Cadet Flight Methuselah

In their final year onboard their assigned university frigate, Nim and Seig have their sights set on receiving their pilot wings and taking up full commissions in the Interstellar Navy—provided they aren't discharged first on account of their penchant for staging elaborate ship-wide pranks rumored to have caused the abrupt resignation of the previous Headmaster Captain.

Everything changes when their university frigate makes an unscheduled jump into non-aligned space and they find themselves on the front line of humanity's first contact with another sentient, spacefaring species. The thrill of being among the first people in mankind's seven hundred year history of galactic expansion to encounter alien life is quickly extinguished as the alien vessel opens fire on their ship, sending out only one repeating broadcast as to their intentions:

“Your destruction is the Will of God.”

Four months before their official graduations, Nim, Seig, and the entirety of Cadet Flight Methuselah launch their marauders into the fray against an enemy whose capabilities are unknown, learning quickly that their days of flying combat simulations are over. There are only two grades being handed out this time: pass and live, or fail and die.