Chapter 2103: Fast Tracked

The results were posted a few days later.

Ning had passed with flying colors.

He placed first in Piloting, by a comfortable margin, and first in Battlefield Tactics, by an even larger one. His written results were strong, his engineering results were solid, and his live-machine evaluation had earned him the highest mark given to any cadet that year.

When he looked at the list, he realized that he had held back far less than he had during his first year, and that the result was exactly what everyone had expected of him.

Naysha placed near the top again.

Her True Simulation score and her live-machine evaluation had both been among the best in the batch, and her results in Research had placed her at the very top of that field. She stood in front of the results display for a long moment, then turned away with a small, satisfied nod and went to find her roommate.

Jason topped Technology and Communication by a wide margin.

His engineering results had been the highest in the entire academy, across every batch, and his written results in communications had been nearly flawless. When he saw his name at the top of the list, he stared at it in disbelief, then turned to Ning with an expression of such pure astonishment that Ning laughed out loud.

That evening, Greeves and Lorna called Ning into the office.

It was the same office he had visited so many times over the past two years, with the same plaque on the wall and the same decorated uniform behind the desk.

But the atmosphere was different this time. Greeves looked more serious than usual, and Lorna stood beside the desk with an expression Ning could not quite read, something between pride and reluctance.

"Sit down, Ning," Greeves said.

It was the first time he had ever offered Ning a seat.

Ning sat.

Greeves folded his hands on the desk. "You’ve seen your results."

"Yes, sir."

"Then you’ll understand why I’m about to tell you what I’m going to tell you." Greeves looked at him steadily. "You won’t be returning to this academy for a third year."

Ning raised an eyebrow slightly but said nothing.

"Command reviewed your performance this year," Greeves continued. "Your time at the hub, your True Simulation scores, your exam results, and the recommendations from Captain Dorn, Instructor Varga, Instructor Stellis, and myself. They’ve reached a decision."

He slid a tablet across the desk toward Ning.

"You’ve been fast-tracked to active duty as a pilot. Effective immediately."

Ning looked down at the tablet. It was a set of formal orders, bearing the seal of the military command.

"You’ll be leaving Truimal," Greeves said. "Within the week. You’re to report to General Choo for your next assignment."

Ning looked up at him.

"General Choo," Greeves repeated, with the faintest hint of something that might have been amusement. "The general who recommended you to this academy in the first place. It seems he’s been following your progress closely. When command informed him of your results, he asked for you personally."

Lorna stepped forward slightly.

"It’s unusual," she said quietly. "Almost unheard of. Cadets don’t leave the academy for active duty after two years. Most of them don’t leave after three. But you’ve done things in two years that most pilots don’t do in ten." She paused. "I’m proud of you, Ning. I hope you know that."

"Thank you, Instructor," Ning said, and meant it.

Greeves nodded. "General Choo is expecting you. Don’t keep him waiting."

Ning kept a perfectly straight face as he stood, saluted, and accepted the orders.

Inside, he found the whole thing quietly absurd.

General Choo had never actually met him. Every word of the recommendation that had brought Ning to this academy had been fabricated by the System two years earlier, along with the rest of his identity, his records, and his history.

General Choo believed he had discovered a remarkable young talent and sent him to the academy to grow. In truth, he had never laid eyes on Ning in his life.

And now he had asked for Ning personally.

Ning left the office with the orders in his hand and walked slowly back across the academy grounds toward the dormitory, wondering exactly what kind of man the System had decided General Choo would be, and how convincingly he would have to pretend to remember a meeting that had never happened.

Ning had a few days before he shipped out, and he found that he did not quite know what to do with them.

He had no more lessons to attend and no more exams to prepare for. The orders on his helmet told him exactly when and where to report, and the transport that would carry him away from Truimal was already scheduled.

For the first time since arriving at the academy, he had nothing to do but wait.

So he spent the time with the people he would be leaving behind.

Jason took the news harder than Ning had expected.

When Ning told him about the orders on the night of the meeting with Greeves, Jason had congratulated him warmly, with the same wide grin he had worn when Ning returned from the hub.

He had talked excitedly about what active duty would be like and what kind of assignments Ning might receive, and asked a dozen questions about General Choo that Ning could not answer.

But over the following days, Ning noticed the excitement fading.

Jason grew quieter at meals. He stopped asking questions about active duty, and he began spending longer and longer stretches of time at his desk in the evenings, bent over something that he covered with his arm whenever Ning came too close.

On the last night before Ning was due to leave, Jason did not go to sleep at all. Ning lay on his bed in the darkness and listened to the faint clicking of tools and the occasional muttered curse from across the room until the early hours of the morning.

He did not ask what Jason was working on. He suspected he already knew.