Chromium

Corporal Dia Zephyr assumed it was just another drill, no more than a Navy tradition, a rite of passage for the recruits.
She expected a spacewalk, maybe a shooting game inside an asteroid field, skimming along the Collective's border before turning back to the Empire's space.
After all, this was what they knew, what everyone expected.
But that's not what happened.
Highest ranks:
[27 in #Science Fiction - 25 in #Horror 10-01-2018]