Selection

Walking down the long corridors of the academy, Oscar couldn't help but wonder what his future would look like. His friend Raylen wanted the life of a brave warrior, fighting for justice, defeating humanities enemies. Oscar on the other hand only wanted a simple life, far away from the war.

Turing a bend Oscar could see the ground forces cadets running their early morning drills, all of them sweaty and pinching from the strenuous exercises. While the academy mainly focused on training future fleet officers, there was a separate building where the ground forces trained their recruits. Since some of these recruits would end up as guards on ship, some would be regular soldiers also called ground grunts, where they would be sent to whatever warzone they were needed at.

Then there where the special forces soldiers. Soldiers that were specially trained to fight in any terrain, with the hardest training regiment of any armed forces, and the most advanced technology, these soldiers were the best that the Federation had. These soldiers were called Specters and were respected by every ground grunt.

Seeing the ground grunts training, Oscar felt a little relieved that his training focused more on technical subjects and only a small amount on physical training.

"Well we are almost there"

Paying attention to where he was going, Oscar realized that they were only a few yards away from the entrance to the main auditorium, where the head instructor would give his speech and send everyone to their designated classrooms.

Raylen looked over at Oscar and gave him his best cocky grin and steppped into the auditorium.

Taking a deep breath, Oscar took a step and found himself in a huge open room where hundreds of chairs stood neatly placed in rows, side by side. He took a seat right next to Raylen and looked around.

There were other cadets in the auditorium, some standing around while others already seated talking with their neighbors.

While waiting for the ceremony to start, another person sat next to him. Oscar only had two good friends at the academy. One was Raylen the wannabe hero and the other was none other then Leo.

If Raylen was considered an outgoing and very straight forward person, and Oscar a quiet and average individual, Leo is what many would call a nerd.

Leo was always studying, reading old battle reports, analyzing the movements of both the Federation fleet and the enemy Icaillian fleet. He was a genious and was one of his grades top students.

Leo looked at Oscar and smiled. "Hows it going Oscar? You ready for the selection?"

"I just want to get this over with so I can head home and finally visit my family."

After the ceremony and the selection were finished, the cadets would get one week off before being shipped off to whatever part of the galaxy they were assigned to.

The three friends chatted for a little while longer until a figure appeared at the front of the auditorium.

"Hello, my future heroes of the Federation. I am very proud to see all of you and how much you have grown over the past four years."

The head instructor Jung Lee was now talking.

Everyone quieted down, found seats and listened intently to the words that the head instructer said.

"Humanity has grown and has faced many foes. Today we face a foe unlike any other before, but like always, we shall be victorious."

Instructor Lee look around the room and smiled at his cadets while continuing his speech.

The speech when on for a good half hour before he was finally done speaking. Instructor Lee talked about his past and the many battle he was apart of. His speech included how he had single handedly turned the tide of a losing battle on the city of Anticore on planet Cortani. Even though everyone knew he was exaggerating a little they still kept quiet and listened.

Finally when instructor Lee finsihed his speech he looked at everyone one last time and said "Head to your designated classrooms where you will meet your instructor and select your first station." He then walked off and through a set of door at the side of the auditorium.

Oscar and his friends got up and headed to their assigned classroom along with the other cadets.

While walking they chatted about what they wanted to select. To no suprise, Raylen wanted to get placed on a Federation Destroyer, since they where the ships most likely to see battle and always sent out to fight alongside other massive ships. Leo wanted to be selected on a command cruiser, where his skills in analyzing ship movements could be best used.

Oscar on the other hand wanted to be placed on a small outpost where he could be carefree and spend his service time in peace.

Walking up to his designated classroom, there was a line forming outside the door. every cadet had to wait outside untile the person in front of them was finished.

Waiting in line Oscar continued to chatt with his friends until it was finally his turn.

Once he entered the classroom all he saw was one chair facing a table, and behind that table was another instructor, looking at his computer monitor.

With a wave of his hand, the instructor signaled for Oscar to sit down, all the while not even taking his eyes off his computer screen.

"Name"

"Oscar Reid"

The instructor pressed a couple of keys and then finally looked at Oscar.

"Cadet Reid, based on your scores you have been given a few options. Please look over this sheet and select a placement."

The instructor handed him a single sheet of paper with a list of the possible placement options that he had.

After reading through the single sheet of paper, A frown formed on Oscars face. The one option that he was hoping for was not on the list. He looked at the instructor and asked why he didnt have the option he wanted.

The instructor simply shrugged and said to select one of the options available to him.

Without any other option Oscar selected to be placed as an officer in a Federation supply transport ship. Other then being in placed on a small outpost, this the the second best choice he had, since the transport ships were always protected since they carried important supplies for the fleets.

After finalizing his choice and filling out the required paperwork, Oscar was finally done. He was given a week off where he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he made his way to the Tiham space port by the end of his leave.

Walking out, Oscar let out a long breath and headed to his dorm room to pack his belongings.