"Just get on the trooper and hope you do good this time." The Spacefaring teacher cried, his voice high pitched due to his biological disposition. What better teacher for spacefaring lessons than a Wokar–the closest creatures to humanoid birds and masters of flight.
As Ardlan approached, he saw another get off the spacecraft simulator.
"Aelius." He muttered and stopped. The young man's boots struck the ground with a commanding presence. His hair flowed down to his shoulder like liquid gold, his golden brows stood like ornaments and his golden irises commanded a presence. He too wore the cliche blue uniform of the academy, but unlike the humans that attended the institute, he and Domitia were the epitome of genetically engineered homo sapiens.
They were prime and perfect.
"Impeccable as usual, Aelius." The teacher commented, but the golden boy didn't do as little as spare the lecturer a glance, keeping his smug look, and walking to his twin sister.
"Get on the trooper."
Right.
Ardlan jumped into the spacecraft, a trooper simulator—the most versatile spacecraft in all of Celest. He started the engines, and so far so good. It was then time to begin steering.
The void was clear and hollow as it tended to be, and this was the easiest part of the simulation. All he needed to do at this point was to simply maintain his path as he flew.
Then it was time to engage in faster than light travel. He checked around for any items that laid around that might sabotage the experience. There were none.
Time to put on the shields. Shields came up and the spacecraft accelerated greatly.
After a couple of minutes, upon reaching his destination, he disengaged the faster than light travel.
[Warning: Asteroid field ahead.]
The trooper Ai warned. Now here was the hard part. Multitudes of rocks slowly drifted his way, and to get a good score, he would have to move through the field without so much as getting the trooper grazed, nor using the blasters.
He steered the trooper accordingly, avoiding the paths of the large rocks. He glided across with finesse, his eyes unblinking as he maintained sharp focus.
Then came one that was so massive, about the size of seven troopers.
He dove down the trooper, narrowly avoiding the drifting rocks below. Eventually, he got around the massive asteroid, but then he took a hit, and the trooper rocked slightly. He cringed his face and pictured the disappointed look on Mr Avees' face. Nevertheless, he had finished this round.
What came next was a chase, and he was to outrun his pursuers while within a planet's orbital traffic. This one took a bit of wit as he had to juggle with not breaking traffic laws and alerting the traffic force. Eventually he was able to fly around the traffic while adhering to the rules and once the coast was clear, he escaped with FTL speed.
Then came the final stage, his worst performing level. Ardlan's trooper versus various ten Mercenary spacecraft.
He readied his blasters, ready to shoot when a beam came his way from the farthest ship, yet, he managed to avoid it. It was his time to shoot, but again another beam came, and this one however struck the trooper's shield.
He clicked his tongue, "One hit." He only had another and the ship would be decimated.
He turned his blasters to the spacecraft nearest to him when he heard a boom and his trooper rocked violently. He had been hit, and his trooper would implode.
BOOM!
The door of the trooper simulator rose, and Ardlan walked out, the simulator blinking red lights frantically telling of the danger. He wore a smile, hoping to appease Mr Avees'.
"F! Mr Ardlan, chances are that you would have to retake this class." The teacher announced.
'Oh no.' In the Tungfest Intergalactic academy, failing a class meant taking the whole year over again, and Laxia would kill him if that were to happen. He could already picture his mom nagging aggressively about his terrible grades.
"Now we are done class, go do what you have to do." Avees announced, and the student began to leave.
Ardlan stood and watched his peers leave, then an idea struck.
"Aelius, Domitia." He called, and the gold twins turned to regard him. The 6 feet 5 inches pair stared blankly at Ardlan. Their flowing gold hair distracted him momentarily, but he got out what he wanted to say.
"I need Spacefaring tutors, and you two are the best in the class. I would appreciate it if I could get some lessons." Now, Ardlan was only three inches shorter than they were but even he felt shrunken beneath those cold and distant golden eyes.
"What do we stand to gain?" Domitia asked, turning to Aelius and then to Ardlan
"Egghh, Anything, anything within my might. I'll do whatever you want me to do."
"That's the spirit, but your pay comes first. Come with us, I have an idea. You are going to make us some money."
"Where are we leaving for?"
"Ennoone." Aelius spoke, his voice deep and hollow like a canyon whilst sharp as tempest. His voice took Ardlan a little back, he had barely heard any words from the golden man's mouth.
Not only were the gold twins impeccable in appearance, their physiques were impressive. It was like a god had taken it upon himself to cast demigods worthy of being made by him and set them in the midst of plebians.
Broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist, and though most of Aelius's physique was hidden beneath his uniform, Ardlan could tell he had a physique second to none in the institute. He had a large square face, thick eyebrows and a prominent nasal ridge, he was handsome.
Domitia was attractive in every sense of the word, and every bit as intimidating. Her skin flawless and radiant, a pale gold. High cheekbones with a dramatic jawline, and full lips. She was a goddess.
The two were at the apex of human genetic design.
They walked to their ship docked at the docking bay. A Lance-two trooper spacecraft, aesthetic and reliable. Once they got to the hatch, blue rays of light shot out from atop it and ran across Domitia, and passage was granted.
The first thing Ardlan noticed was the cold, now he had significant temperature resistance but a cold ship was down his list of preferences. Their ship was neat and well maintained but nothing of personality as Ardlan was hoping for.
"Maxine, get us to Ennoone." Domitia commanded the trooper's AI.