Cadets: Short Stories

TOM'S LOG: THE PHOENIX

I was born and raised into a family who worked aboard Earth freighters. My dad was a pilot, and mom was an engineer. We practically lived on freighters along with other crewmembers who also had families aboard. The work we were in involved a lot of travelling, so we never had an actual home on earth or on any other planet. We lived in crowded spaces, but we were happy together and got to travel around the universe. At a young age, I was infatuated with flying. I wanted to become a pilot someday, but I didn't want to fly freighters like dad, I wanted to fly Federation starfighters in the navy. I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

I spent the next several years reluctantly studying hard to get good grades and get accepted into the Galactic Federation Academy. I wanted to enter the navy program, where it was said trained the best pilots in the galaxy. I already had some amateur experience in piloting a ship, since dad used to give Me private lessons. When I application got accepted, I left my life aboard freighters to attend the Galactic Federation Academy on Earth. Upon arriving I met my roommate Max Twitch, who was a space major in the space program. We hardly got along with each other. We were opposite personalities and had different opinions about our majors. While Max thought the Navy was a death trap, I found space exploration boring as there was no excitement in it. Little did I know that there was more to it than just exploring space.

During the first few weeks of my first semester, I made new friends in the navy program, who happened to be senior pilots. They made Me a part of their gang and expected big things from Me. However, I was a sloppy student who put no real effort into studying. I believed I was already a good pilot and didn't need to study. I would just lay back in class and goof around with my friends, waiting for the day of the final exam, which would decide who would be moving on in the navy program and who will not. I was so confident that my pilot skills would be enough, I completely disregarding the importance of studying. To make class easy for Me, I would often copy contents from books and made it look like my own work. I didn't even bother to read the contents I was copying. At the same time, my friends began to notice my bad grades and started to consider revoking my membership in their group. Max warned me to take my studies seriously, but I took no notice. Instead I would just make fun of Max wasting time studying just to explore space when all you had to do was go out there. Max stated there was a lot more to space, but I just laughed it off.

On the day of the final exam, my friends threatened to remove me from the gang if I failed. I wasn't shaken by this threat because I was confident that I was going to pass, but I was worried. The final exam was where student pilots would engage in simulated space battles. The exercise would involve teamwork and thinking strategically. I never studied on either subjects, and still believed my piloting skills were enough and didn't need to work with a team. During the simulation, I was already displaying a great deal of disobedience. I broke off formation, disobeyed orders, and destroyed targets that weren't meant to be destroyed. The final straw came when the exercise led to taking on a hostile alien ship. The simulated squad went over a plan of attack, but I charged at the alien ship, disobeying orders to return formation. I even cut off communication from my commanding officer. I took on the alien ship with everything I had, but I was quickly overpowered and defeated. The simulation was over.

The teachers and other students were furious with my behaviour, but none of them were more displeased as Dean Weatherstone. Because of my disregard of studying and inability to work with authority, I was dismissed from the Navy program. My friends also left me without a word.

By the next semester, I was put in a boring class for tug pilots. Every day I would brow in class, not saying a single word. I didn't even say a word to Max, who made it through his final exam and was moving onto the next semester. One day, Max came to speak to Me. The academy was hosting an annual ship design contest, where cadets design and built spacecrafts and enter them in a race. Max was entering it along with other cadets led by Jonathan Jones. They had everything set except for a pilot. Max recommended recruiting Me to Jonathan, however he as everyone else was not so keen about making Me a part of their team. They all heard about how I failed my final exam. Jonathan on the other hand had a good instinct about Me. Despite everyone else's objections, they agreed to give Me a try. At first, I was not interested. I didn't want anything to with the space program. However, Max was able to persuade Me, especially when he said they needed the best pilot in the academy. Reluctant and tempted, I agreed to join the team but only for flying and nothing more. Unfortunately, I had to help out in designing the ship.

When news got out that I was on Jonathan's team, Dean Weatherstone one time spoke with him about his decision. Jonathan was well aware of my disobedience but saw something in Me that nobody understood. He knew I disobeyed orders and had skills that were worth something if turned in the right direction. At first everyone thought he was naïve, but as time went on Dean Weatherstone began to notice a change in Me. To make sure I followed a strict schedule, Jonathan put Me under Max's supervision. For the next several days, I worked hard on designing and building our ship. Even on weekends, I had to work. The first few days were a struggle. But eventually, I started working more independently. I started recommending ideas for the craft, like modifications for better performances, and help correct problems that no one else could figure out. I even started to actually put some effort into studying.

By the end of the second semester, we had built a ship I dubbed the "Phoenix". The next stage of the contest was to take our ship out on a salvage operation. We would be up against some tough competition, including my old friends in the Navy Program. Once they came us and made fun of my disobedience, saying I was going to help the team lose and give them a winning chance. I was so mad I wanted to hit them, but luckily Jonathan stopped me before I could lay a finger. He told me to ignore them and save it for the race. I realised then that those guys were never my friends. They were just a bunch of jerks who thought they were better than everyone and liked to rub it in people's faces.

It was soon time for the big race. Each vessel would acuminate five crewmen. Jonathan was the commander, Max was navigation, Jennifer was mission specialist, Nym was the engineer, and I was the helmsman. The race was going to be a flight to the moon, collect an orbiting flag and return to base. The first ship to make it back would be declared the winner. Before we knew it, the race was on. Six vessels constructed by cadets racing against one another. It was time to see what our baby could do. One ship failed to take off, and so it was only five ships in the race. We were able to hold on to second place as we approached the moon. Ahead of us were my old friends, who weren't going to give up first place without a fight. They suddenly caught us off guard, taking shots at us. We got biffed and suffered minor damage, but I kept us on their tail. When they tried again, I acted quick to dodge their attacks. Jonathan decided it was time to give these guys a taste of their own medicine by taking shots at them. Working together we disabled their engines and took the lead.

We were the first to collect our orbiting flag, and just when we were about to make the return journey our haul starting buckling. Nym worked fast to counteract the problem, while I focused on getting the ship back to Earth. Luckily, Nym was able to seal off a haul breach with a crude fabricated forcefield which was enough to get us back to base. We were declared the winners.

Dean Weatherstone was surprised by my performance, and that I showed better obedience during this whole experience. Even my old friends took back what they said about Me. Weatherstone offered to let me back into the Navy Program. I was astonished and tempted to go back, but instead I chose to stay in the Space Program. It was from this experience that I made proper friends who believed in me and helped me become a better person. Dean Weatherstone supported my decision and wished me the best of luck.

After reaching my fifth year in the Academy, I am now the helmsmen of one of the fastest starships in the Federation, the Enterprise. As for the Phoenix, we keep aboard as one of our shuttles.