Ozania Odyssey

Chapter 15: A Troublesome Flight Course! The Second Phase Of The Exam!

The recruits venture further into space, their space bus roaring as it propels them closer to the station. Jax stares out the window, and his eyes widen, feeling a chill run down his spine as he takes in the space's vast scenery. "Wow, this is amazing!"

"See, I told ya you would love it! There's nothing more beautiful in this universe than the sights of the cosmos. It's truly a sight to behold!"

"Yeah, you said it. I can totally get used to this!"

After a 45-minute flight, they disembark from the transport and feel a slight change in pressure as they step into the space station. "Please make your way to Room 3A next to the flight station," says the P.A system.

As Rojo travels to the exam room, he sees a face he recognizes from earlier. "Hey, Jax, doesn't that guy look familiar?"

Jax scrunches his eyes as his mind searches for recognition of this person. "Yeah, the look is familiar, but I can't remember who he-" Jax's eyebrows arch as he now remembers the person. It's the person who tripped him and made snide comments about his clothes. "Oh, him…"

"Sucks, he has to be here. He'll make this exam a lot harder than need be."

They enter room 3A and see a pink-haired and pink-furred humanoid cat with a tail wearing an Academy Uniform. Her race classifies as Hybrid Race: Cat Type. "Greetings, everyone. My name is Hikira Rank, Pilot of The Academy. Please get seated so I can tell you instructions for the exam."

"Thanks for getting seated, guys! For this phase, you will take a stinger ship spacecraft and fly throughout our flight course. But, before you go on, I'll show you a graphic of the ship parts. I suggest you all pay special attention as these are pivotal for you passing this portion of the exam."

With a flick of a switch, Hikira dims the lights, and the projector screen fills the room with a blueprint of the stinger spacecraft's interior. "These are the parts to a standard Stinger Style Spacecraft."

Hikira points to a figure with two black grips connected to a round shape that mimics the design of a steering wheel. "This object is known as the steering mechanism. It works a lot like the steering wheel of an automobile or a flying car. It's used to control the direction of where your stinger flies."

Hikira's finger lingers on a section of red buttons numbered 10-100, their glossy surfaces reflecting the light beside the steering device. "These numbers are set for how fast you want your vehicle to go. 10 being the slowest, 100 being the fastest. 10-30 are recommended for civilian and pedestrian travel, and 40-70 are recommended for transport and evacuation. The speeds of 40-70 are only permitted for Academy Pilots. Finally, 80-100 and above are only meant for battle."

Hikira points to the buttons on the right of the steering wheel, including a green one, a small red one, a bigger red one, a blue one, and a small golden R. "The final five buttons are the easiest ones to learn; The green button is your start button, the small red button is your stop button, the big red button is your emergency shut-off button, and the blue button is for the ship's P. A speaker and that R button is for Radio communication amongst your allies."

After Hikari cuts off the screen, she turns on the classroom lights and returns her focus to everyone. "Questions, anyone?"

"..."

"Ok then, follow me, everyone!" Hikari leads them to a room with a "Ship Bay" sign over the doorframe. Once they enter, Hikari holds out a white bucket full of tiny paper strips. "Take a random strip," They take a slip of paper and get a number from 1 to 13. Jax's number is 4, and Rojo's is 6. "What do these numbers represent?" asked Rojo.

"These numbers are the order in which you will take the course, 1 being the first and 13 being the last. With that being said, 1 you're the first one up to go!"