Gabriel
🎖️ Game Master
Kyoto War College - "The Academy"
Class: Starship Operations in the Post-War Theater
First Day of Class, Fall Semester, YE 38
"War is Hell, but peacetime is chaos."
At the front of the room stood a slightly short, slender man with short brown hair and a devilish grin. His blue eyes matched the three blue bands on the blue sleeves of his Class A Formal uniform, a small salvage yard's worth of metal ribbons pinned on his uniform's grey-colored front. Above his ribbons the blue and gold of his rank pin identified him as an Ittô Juni, the highest rank attainable absent a commission.
"This is a quote by a great and significant soldier. Anybody know who?"
There were murmurs around the auditorium as the students discussed question with their neighbors. "That sounds like a Taisho Yui quote, but I don't recognize it," one of the students called out.
"Close," the instructor responded. "It's a quote by a Starship Operator named Valencia Ramiro Trinidad."
"Who?" The student asked. The instructor flashed another devilish grin. "Me."
"So does that make you famous then, sir?" The student protested. "With due respect, I've never heard your name before."
"It's Juni, not sir, please. I work for a living. And no, I'm not famous, and you haven't heard of me. If you weren't in this class right now then you likely never would have heard of me," Ramiro replied slyly. "But I never said the quote was by someone famous, I said it was by someone significant."
Some of the students rolled their eyes. A different student inquired, "so what is your significance, Juni? What I mean by that is, are you referencing being a teacher as the significance, or are you referring to your time before becoming an instructor?"
"Both," Ramiro quipped. "Good morning class, my name is Valencia-Juni, and this will be one of the most important classes you take during your time in Kyoto. I gave you the quote not because I am conceited, not because I want you all to give me some sort of credit or adoration; I started this class by drawing attention to myself so you will understand the importance of what I have to say. For those of you destined the fly among the stars, and I presume that anyone taking my class is intending towards starship command, the information that I bestow on your and the things you learn here could be what make or break your time in command. Anyone can follow mission directions from their superiors, anyone can come up with creative solutions to evolving problems, and anyone can direct a crew. What you will learn from me during the next 8-weeks is how to do these things, effectively, efficiently, and without getting your ship destroyed or, less importantly in this day and age, your crew killed."
"Now," continued Ramiro. "This tends to be a diverse class. Some of you are coming to The Academy straight out of Ready. Some of you might have served some enlisted time before requesting a commission. A few of you will have served in the Empress' armed forces for so long that they all but ordered you to put your damned skills to real use. If you are the former, understand that you are starting behind. I grade my course on a strict curve. There is no 'everybody gets an A', there is no 'everybody passes'. In my class, you will be graded in competition against your peers because only the absolute best, only the top, may command a ship in my beloved Starmy. Yes I called it 'Starmy' so get used to it. However, I give this word of warning to you old-timers, and even more so to that select few who I omitted to mention before, you legacies who think that you know shit because you got stories from Mommy and Daddy even though you haven't served a day in your life. Take whatever anybody else taught you about commanding a ship with a few grains of salt, because they probably haven't seen or done what I've seen or done. Take whatever you've learned about piloting a starship and burn it along with that book. A textbook will never be able to prepare you for the changing venue of combat. And if you served anywhere that wasn't the bridge, forget everything that you've ever believed about that lot, because they've probably saved your life more than you've saved theirs'."
"Now, before I begin with our first lesson, does anybody have any questions?"
One student in the back raised her hand and shyly asked, "Sir... I mean Juni. You told us both. You told us that you see yourself as being significant both in the classroom and outside. And you referenced all the things you've done. It might be better for us to understand your teachings if we understand who you are, more so than just your name and bunch of war ribbons on your chest."
Ramiro leaned back against the desk at the front of the lecture hall, folding his harms as he starred intently at the girl, considering how to respond. "I'm an 8-year soldier in the Star Army of Yamatai. On top of previously being an instructor at Fort Ready I served about the YSS Eucharis for over three years, under the command of then-Taisa Ketsurui Hanako. For more years that most of your have been alive I flew the flagship of the First XF Second Squadron. My first mission as chief operator of the Eucharis was an exploration mission, just autopilot and hyperspace. We ended the exploration mission with a combat simulation. This was my first time actually maneuvering a vessel outside of basic training, and even that was just a simulation. This was March YE 31."
The expressions of some of the students changed immediately. Some let out audible gasps. Some of the less historically inclined students had puzzled looks, as if they knew that date was supposed to have significance, they just couldn't figure out what the significance was. "That night at dinner I received a distress signal from a power armor from the YSS Sakura and the Eucharis went to investigate at HX-12," Ramiro continued. "That following morning, while we were all still asleep, we were awoken by an alarm from the XO. All crew to primary stations, not a drill. We had received a priority alert from Command, along with every ship and military base in the empire. When we went to bed on 31 March YE 31 all was peaceful, but on April 1st..." Ramiro's voice trailed off a bit.
"War." One of his students finished Ramiro's sentence for him. Ramiro pulled out his comm and displayed a message on the projector.
"We readied the ship faster than I had ever seen, wrapped up our search and rescue of the distress signal in what was probably a fleet record amount of time, and off we flew towards Nataria where 500,000 ships were waiting. For my first combat mission, I flew the Eucharis into the First Battle of Nataria, the start of the Second Mishhuvurthyar War." With a quick tap a news report appeared.
"What followed was the five bloodiest years in recent memory. Through horror, destruction, death, and chaos I flew my girl into jaws of the enemy more times than I can count, and I flew her out every time. To Veritas, to assisting Gartagen forces at Ether, to the Battle itself above our homeworld, to a raid on the NMX Nest. From HX-12 where we received the alert that the then-SMX had launched a surprise attack against Nataria and the KMS, around the galaxy, and back to HX-12 where I flew my last mission with the Eucharis, assisting to destroy an NMX spaceport. She got damaged, she infested, she crashed, but never once did we lose that ship under my watch." Ramiro then started speaking more forcefully, obviously more passionate about this next event. "I flew that ship into the Battle of Yamatai, where we destroyed countless enemy vehicles before sustaining what would be a killing blow for any other operator. That ship was sent plummeting to the surface of Yamatai. Major damage to the main pylons, no engines, no thrusters, basically no power, while simultaneously using the ship's turrets to fire at debris that was hurtling towards us, and upside down, I landed my baby in the ocean just east of the city. And every day, for every step of every mission, I was gained experience in how to coordinate with other sections of the ships, learned to integrate subsystem utility, learned the strategy of starship maneuvering in combat, and basically did my CO's job for her in terms of starship operation so that she could concentrate on more important things.
Ramiro paused for what was, at this point, an eerily silent room. Several of the students' mouths sat hanging open. One student had a very confused and upset look on her face as she stared at the floor, clearly trying to figure out how you could land a ship upside down.
"So listen to what the fuck I've got to say, and maybe you might learn a thing or two that keeps your ship in the sky." Ramiro loudly declared. "Now, you all were supposed to read the handout that I emailed about Readiness Conditions and the Combined Field System..."
Class: Starship Operations in the Post-War Theater
First Day of Class, Fall Semester, YE 38
"War is Hell, but peacetime is chaos."
At the front of the room stood a slightly short, slender man with short brown hair and a devilish grin. His blue eyes matched the three blue bands on the blue sleeves of his Class A Formal uniform, a small salvage yard's worth of metal ribbons pinned on his uniform's grey-colored front. Above his ribbons the blue and gold of his rank pin identified him as an Ittô Juni, the highest rank attainable absent a commission.
"This is a quote by a great and significant soldier. Anybody know who?"
There were murmurs around the auditorium as the students discussed question with their neighbors. "That sounds like a Taisho Yui quote, but I don't recognize it," one of the students called out.
"Close," the instructor responded. "It's a quote by a Starship Operator named Valencia Ramiro Trinidad."
"Who?" The student asked. The instructor flashed another devilish grin. "Me."
"So does that make you famous then, sir?" The student protested. "With due respect, I've never heard your name before."
"It's Juni, not sir, please. I work for a living. And no, I'm not famous, and you haven't heard of me. If you weren't in this class right now then you likely never would have heard of me," Ramiro replied slyly. "But I never said the quote was by someone famous, I said it was by someone significant."
Some of the students rolled their eyes. A different student inquired, "so what is your significance, Juni? What I mean by that is, are you referencing being a teacher as the significance, or are you referring to your time before becoming an instructor?"
"Both," Ramiro quipped. "Good morning class, my name is Valencia-Juni, and this will be one of the most important classes you take during your time in Kyoto. I gave you the quote not because I am conceited, not because I want you all to give me some sort of credit or adoration; I started this class by drawing attention to myself so you will understand the importance of what I have to say. For those of you destined the fly among the stars, and I presume that anyone taking my class is intending towards starship command, the information that I bestow on your and the things you learn here could be what make or break your time in command. Anyone can follow mission directions from their superiors, anyone can come up with creative solutions to evolving problems, and anyone can direct a crew. What you will learn from me during the next 8-weeks is how to do these things, effectively, efficiently, and without getting your ship destroyed or, less importantly in this day and age, your crew killed."
"Now," continued Ramiro. "This tends to be a diverse class. Some of you are coming to The Academy straight out of Ready. Some of you might have served some enlisted time before requesting a commission. A few of you will have served in the Empress' armed forces for so long that they all but ordered you to put your damned skills to real use. If you are the former, understand that you are starting behind. I grade my course on a strict curve. There is no 'everybody gets an A', there is no 'everybody passes'. In my class, you will be graded in competition against your peers because only the absolute best, only the top, may command a ship in my beloved Starmy. Yes I called it 'Starmy' so get used to it. However, I give this word of warning to you old-timers, and even more so to that select few who I omitted to mention before, you legacies who think that you know shit because you got stories from Mommy and Daddy even though you haven't served a day in your life. Take whatever anybody else taught you about commanding a ship with a few grains of salt, because they probably haven't seen or done what I've seen or done. Take whatever you've learned about piloting a starship and burn it along with that book. A textbook will never be able to prepare you for the changing venue of combat. And if you served anywhere that wasn't the bridge, forget everything that you've ever believed about that lot, because they've probably saved your life more than you've saved theirs'."
"Now, before I begin with our first lesson, does anybody have any questions?"
One student in the back raised her hand and shyly asked, "Sir... I mean Juni. You told us both. You told us that you see yourself as being significant both in the classroom and outside. And you referenced all the things you've done. It might be better for us to understand your teachings if we understand who you are, more so than just your name and bunch of war ribbons on your chest."
Ramiro leaned back against the desk at the front of the lecture hall, folding his harms as he starred intently at the girl, considering how to respond. "I'm an 8-year soldier in the Star Army of Yamatai. On top of previously being an instructor at Fort Ready I served about the YSS Eucharis for over three years, under the command of then-Taisa Ketsurui Hanako. For more years that most of your have been alive I flew the flagship of the First XF Second Squadron. My first mission as chief operator of the Eucharis was an exploration mission, just autopilot and hyperspace. We ended the exploration mission with a combat simulation. This was my first time actually maneuvering a vessel outside of basic training, and even that was just a simulation. This was March YE 31."
The expressions of some of the students changed immediately. Some let out audible gasps. Some of the less historically inclined students had puzzled looks, as if they knew that date was supposed to have significance, they just couldn't figure out what the significance was. "That night at dinner I received a distress signal from a power armor from the YSS Sakura and the Eucharis went to investigate at HX-12," Ramiro continued. "That following morning, while we were all still asleep, we were awoken by an alarm from the XO. All crew to primary stations, not a drill. We had received a priority alert from Command, along with every ship and military base in the empire. When we went to bed on 31 March YE 31 all was peaceful, but on April 1st..." Ramiro's voice trailed off a bit.
"War." One of his students finished Ramiro's sentence for him. Ramiro pulled out his comm and displayed a message on the projector.
Code:
STAR ARMY COMMAND
HEADQUARTERS, KYOTO, YAMATAI
Attention all personnel:
Communications are erratic at the moment, but from scattered intelligence we have
reason to believe an attack is about to take place or is already underway at the
Ketsurui Military Sector and Nataria.
1. All leave is canceled. Return to your duty stations immediately.
2. Raise battle readiness to maximum. Fleets assemble and prepare for combat.
3. Scan suspicious personnel for signs of infection. Have any crew that has been
off-ship recently get a thorough physical exam.
Further orders to follow once we can better assess the situation.
Signed,
Taisho Yui @ Yamatai
Code:
Mishhu Return; Yamatai Under Attack
Star Army News Distribution and Reporting Agency
Natalia - Large numbers of Mishhuvurthyar ships of new types have converged on
Nataria and the entrances to the Ketsurui Military Sector in a sudden, powerful
attack against Yamatai. The Star Army is deploying to meet this threat. More
updates as they occur.
Ramiro paused for what was, at this point, an eerily silent room. Several of the students' mouths sat hanging open. One student had a very confused and upset look on her face as she stared at the floor, clearly trying to figure out how you could land a ship upside down.
"So listen to what the fuck I've got to say, and maybe you might learn a thing or two that keeps your ship in the sky." Ramiro loudly declared. "Now, you all were supposed to read the handout that I emailed about Readiness Conditions and the Combined Field System..."
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