RP [The Academy] Younger Minds

[Gabriel]

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.

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

"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.

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.

"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..."

 

[Gabriel]

Kyoto War College - "The Academy"
Class: Starship Operations in the Post-War Theater
Week Two, Fall Semester, YE 38

"...And if you plotted your navigation properly, then you should wind up right here."

Ramiro stood at the front of the room, using a long stick to point at a star system in the middle of a holographic projection. "Grid marker..." He paused to look down at a tablet in his hands, "1608, 6-digit coordinates 163.074. Can anyone give me the old-school polar coordinates?"

"Was that part of the assignment, Juni?" A daring Neko pipped up.

"No, and it won't be part of your mission orders either, and yet in extreme circumstances you may be forced to resort to old paper maps, encode your information into a less-known format, or be working off of old mission logs as your intel. Come on people! It's basic geometry and trigonometry, look at the map and give me something."

The room remained silent.

"You!" Ramiro pointed at the daring Neko, "Polar coordinates use what?"

"Distance and direction?"

"From?"

"The radius of the circle, Juni."

Good," Ramiro responded. "The center is? Anyone?"

"It looks like Yamatai, Juni," a different student said.

"Absolutely it is, because this beloved capitol of my beloved Empire is the center of the universe, the galaxy revolves around her, and planets and stars align to her. Now, somebody give me distance and direction. You there!" Ramiro pointed at a random student. "Give me a distance."

The student looked a little startled as he flipped through his notes, and looked at a digital copy of the map displayed on his desk. "It looks to be around 50 light years, Juni."

"52, but who's counting?" Ramiro joked. "Right answer though, the obvious distance measurement is in light years, LY. Anybody guess direction?"

"Is it just 170 degrees, Juni?"

"Boom! Yes. Easy peasy. Assuming that you're aiming at a general star system, you should only ever need degrees, no need to reduce to minutes and seconds. A rough distance and direction can point you to any star system in the galaxy. Even better, there is a benefit to understanding the old coordinate system. If someone gives you the coordinates, as long as you're familiar with the map, you should be able to get a rough estimate in your head of where they're talking about. If someone right now told me 50 185, I would know that we're landing somewhere in the Virgo Defense Network. Also, in case of extreme emergency, polar coordinates can be used to plot an easy trip home, just reverse your direction. God forbid you lose communications, your map is not functioning, or any other problem where all you have are navigational instruments, you should be able to point you ship directly at Yamatai if you know your polar coordinates. Any questions?"

"Yes, Juni. Most gunships have a bridge station dedicated to navigation or primary operations. So most of the time we will have a person who's primary job is navigating, correct?"

"Yes, and no," Ramiro responded. "Back on the Eucharis we had a modified bridge with five bridge stations, plus the CO's station, for a total of six. It wasn't uncommon for me to be the only person manning the bridge, or if I was on away team the Shosho had full responsibility for bridge operations. And that was during the war, when patriotism and volunteer rates where at an all-time high. Now, with a labor shortage, we can produce more ships than we can personnel to man them. Never count on having a full crew, ever. And in a peacetime environment you will be undertaking a more diverse set of roles. I know I repeat this ever class, but it's some of the biggest take-away. There are fewer ships in service than there were four years ago when your textbooks were written. There are fewer soldiers, smaller fleets, which means a greater share of the responsibility for each ship and squadron. Plus, in the wartime environment there is a simple objective: Glorious victory for the Empress. But now that were are in peace time ships are expected to do more than combat the enemy. You need to be able to explore, investigate, research, negotiate, transport, and handle all those smaller responsibilities that are neglected during wartime. This is what makes peacetime chaos. Sure war is hell, and it seems chaotic, but at the end of the day your task is simple, your decisions are simple, and the universe is simple. You win, whatever the cost. If something will help the war effort, do it; if not, don't waste the time or resources. But now, you have to worry about appearances and politics. Nobody will brush off your bad decisions, they will put them under a microscope. SANDRA is hiding beyond every asteroid and after planet. Now, there are a million variables to consider, and even worse most of what you do will require approval. Peacetime is tens of thousands of ships of military ships, designed for combat, running around like chickens with their heads cut off wondering what they're supposed to do now that there's nobody to kill."

Silence.

"Alright, so let's put what you've learned so far to use. Scenario exercises. Let's start with..." Ramiro looked back down at his tablet. "Valendez-Kohosei. I assume you read the scenarios that I handed out last week?"

"Erm, yes Juni." Came the nervous response from a purple-haired Neko.

"Excellent. You're at Polar 112 230. Where are you?" As Ramiro finished the student began flipping through her files for the map. "No, don't look it up. Close your eyes and think. What's the direction I just gave you?"

"230, Juni?" Her voice shook a bit.

"Good," came Ramiro's response. "Now don't get nervous, there's no place for that when you're in the Black. In cardinal directions, what is that?"

The student paused for a few seconds. "Galactic southwest," she responded confidently.

"Excellent, how did you get that?"

"Well, South is 180 degrees, plus 45 would put you at 225, which is exactly southwest, and we're only five degrees north of that. Also our distance is far, over 100 light years. So we're in the Kesturui Military Sector. Maybe... Himiko?"

"Very close, well done. But Himiko is a little further out. So if I told you Himiko was grid 0202 and that you're in 0305, what can you tell me about where you are compared to Himiko?"

"Uhm..." The Neko still had her eyes closed as she ran through some quick numbers. "One right, and three up. A grid square is 8 by 8 light years, so we're about 8LY east and 24LY north of Himiko. That puts us near the UX 11 entrance, but not quite because that's closer to 45 degrees, so we're about 8LY west of UX 11." The Neko opened her eyes and smile.

Ramiro smiled too, and slid his fingers across the tablet as the holographic projection of the galaxy zoomed in to the KMS. "Grid square 0305, UX 12. Exactly where you described it was. Now, you're headed to 025087, a 6-digit. Location? And what course are you plotting to get there?"

"North," the purple-haired Neko responded. "I'm guessing that my course is along the spacelane, so likely my ship's computer already has that route saved. But if not, we're headed at about 350 30 from our current location?"

Ramiro tapped his fingers against the tablet a few more times as he plotted her course from UX-12. The holographic map scrolled to the location he entered, about 1LY off of SX-07. "Meet Minato, a stop on the spacelane to Daichi. Excellent! So, you've got your course, walk me through the steps."

This time the Neko flipped through her notes, as she started running through a mental list. "Well, I have my navigator enter the coordinates, or myself if I don't have one. Then I charge the hyperspace fold drive and alert the ship to prepare for FTL."

"Alright, good." Ramiro looked pleased. "Absent any other orders, what's your ship's status?"

"Relaxed," the Neko responded, recalling the readiness conditions lesson. "Since we're at peacetime, it's only relaxed, which is Readiness Condition Four. The bridge and engineering are manned, engines full."

"Perfect. But let's say it's wartime, but still no orders. Any change in status?"

"Yes, Readiness 3, which is the wartime standard. Duty stations don't change, but we need AMES readily available. Some power to shields."

"And secure all items. How much power to shields?" Ramiro continued to inquire.

"Erm..." The Neko quickly flipped through her notes. "I don't think we ever said. Less than half, but more than nothing."

"Technically you're right," Ramiro said, trying to walk the Neko to the answer. "Regulations require that range, so where are your shields at?"

"I'd say 20-80, shields-engines. It's a little less than the mid-way, but we're in friendly space."

Ramiro gave a smile. "That's a good answer. The correct answer is whatever you say it is, because it's to the commanding officer's discretion as long as its within regulations. For example, if you're outside friendly territory but still not necessarily anticipating combat, you might go a little more towards the 50-50 mark. If you're flying from Yamatai to Nataria you might power your shields even lower that a 20-80 mark, because you're in-core. So, what next?"

"Well," the Neko continued. "That's it. Once all stations report ready for fold, you launch."

"Good. So, you're en route and you get an alert from command. Rebels have been active in that area. What steps do you take?"

"Well would that be Condition Two or One, Juni?"

"You tell me," Ramiro stated.

"I don't think the intel suggests imminent combat, just possible, so I'd stay at Condition 2. Which means main duty shifts report to stations, everyone an AMES, bring weapons online, and balance shields and engines."

"Exactly right. First of all, you're en route with time to spare. Bringing the ship to Condition One requires blast doors to be closed, and all personnel on duty. You don't know what to expect, so you don't want to be waking up your night crew every time you might run into enemies. Plus, closing blast doors would inhibit your main shifts from reporting quickly. Usually, if you have the time, you're better going to Condition Two, and then upgrading to Condition One once combat is plainly imminent. The only difference between Conditions One and Two is blast doors, full crew, and CFS. Both the blast doors and CFS can be handled instantly, so it isn't any hassle to move from Condition Two to Condition One. The only time-consuming part of moving to Condition One is waking up the the non-primary crew, so keep that in mind when decided where to place yourself. Ask yourself, if combat were to occur the moment you jumped out of fold, how much of a detriment would the ship suffer by having to wait a minute or two for the night crew to wake up, and if that risk to your ship is low, would it upset and demoralize your night crew if they're being woken up too often for unnecessary Condition One alerts. Morality, especially for a night crew, is crucial, and there is a such thing as being too cautious."

Ramiro paused for a minute to let the class finish recording their notes.

"Luckily," he continued. "It was a false alarm. You arrive safely, no rebels are waiting, and you get orders to land for some R&R. What could be better? Next week we start on standard combat maneuvers, and how to keep communication between ship stations during combat. There are a few chapters in your text discussing the various sections of a ship and their roles during combat. Also, there's another set of scenarios that I posted, your homework will be to identify the mistake that the commanding officer made in each scenario. Class dismissed!"

 

[Gabriel]

Kyoto War College - "The Academy"
Class: Starship Operations in the ̶P̶o̶s̶t̶-̶W̶a̶r̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶a̶t̶e̶r Kuvexian War
Week Eight, Fall Semester, YE 38

A classroom of students flooded into the lecture hall, which was abuzz with chatter. The instructor was nowhere to be seen, even as the last students filed in and took their seats. Precisely at 0930, the class' start time, the room went black as the lights suddenly and immediately turned off. There was a few seconds of worried students loudly reacting to the darkness before a hologram video clicked on at the front of the room.

The video flicked through half-second clips of every kind of destruction imaginable: fighter jets colliding with one another, explosions ripping through the corridors of starships, personnel being sucked from a hole in the side of a space station into the vacuum of space, cities in ruins, entire forests burnt to the ground, Mishuvurthyar committing unspeakable acts to their captives, and ending with a 10-second clip of 50-foot pieces of Hoshi no Lori crashing into a farming village.

"War is hell," came Ramiro's voice, echoing the first words he spoke to the class. He stood a corner in the back of the room where he had been lurking. With a touch of his comm the lights came back on. "And, while my purpose these few months had been to train you for the chaos of post-world life, that training is going to be put slightly on hold. War is no longer upon us, it is here, and despite command making it clear that they wished the current curriculum emphasis for the future generation of leaders to continue focusing on this post-war theater, I think they are underestimating how long this war will take. Despite the fact the most of you still have over a year until graduation, I honestly believe that each and every one of you will be commanding units in the Kuvexian War, and my job is to make sure that you have the opportunity for ever success possible."

Ramiro abandoned his spot at the back of the room, and briskly walked down the stairs to the well of the lecture hall. He pulled up a slideshow from his comm and displayed it at the front of the room.

"So, in the interest of finishing the topic that we were on, today we will continue and concluding our discussion on the multi-functioning role of a post-war vessel, and next week I will be shifting the curriculum to talk specifically about operating a vessel in the Kuvexian War. Now, this topic may be a little redundant, as all of you had class last semester specifically covering operation of a vessel in wartime, generally. However, we have a new, specific enemy, and I will not allow you to graduate and face this enemy unprepared. We have new data on their anatomy, on their society, on their warships, and on their combat styles. Where the NMX preferred the brute strength of their starships, the Kuvexians win through numbers. Where the NMX handled planetary operations through mind-control, subterfuge, espionage, and sheer horror, the Kuvexians will simply attempt to flood a system, cutting off resource and supplies while choking the life from a planet. We have four weeks until finals, and those four weeks will cover half of your final grade."

Ramiro cleared his throat before he flipped to the first slide. "To recap, we talked last week about infantry operations and tactics. I will have your papers on your strategy for the bunker scenario graded by the end of tomorrow. While these topics may seem unnecessary, I assure you that in your time commanding a starship, you will find yourself occupying the role of infantry officer, science specialist, navigator, gunner, engineer, fighter pilot, and even cook at least once during time in the Star Army. While you will likely see rapid expansion in the enlistment ranks in order to prepare for war, you may still be thrown into a situation where you don't have the necessary officers or NCOs around to handle command of specialized mission. While serving on the Eucharis I was good friends with a medical and science officer. Yet I watched him command power armor squadrons, pilot the starship, lead exploration missions, repair equipment, design ship upgrades, and act as a diplomat. While during war the most common type of mission that you will fly will be standard starship combat missions, things always get hair and require you to improvise. Plus, the war will end eventually, and you'll find that it's the officers who know nothing other than how to fight a war who either find that the Star Army no longer has a place for them, or worse they find themselves feeling empty and worthless without the thrill of battle. And it is towards that purpose that we come to our last topic of this segment: gunning."

The slideshow flipping to a diagram of a Plumeria-Class Gunship, with each outer turret mount circled. The slideshow then flipped to a Sakura-Class Gunship, then to a Heitan-Class Carrier, then to a Sharie-Class Battleship. The slideshow continued flipping through all kinds of Star Army ships. "It is your responsibility to understand the basics of manning all of the weapons on all of these ships. You will need to know how every kind of turret works that the Star Army uses, what their intended use is, what kinds of defenses they will be effective or ineffective against, and how to utilize these weapons for maximum efficiency. If you have every turret on a Battleship targeting the same lone fighter, you're wasting energy and firepower. However, if each one of these is firing at a different large target, you'll find your effort useless. We'll also be discussing the main weapons of these different crafts. You need to understand all of them, because you never know what ship you'll find yourself using, or whether you'll have a full crew or simply be manning the bridge yourself."

"This unit will merge into next week when we discuss preliminary knowledge of Kuvexian defenses, and how specifically to direct what we learn today into our first unit on the Kuvexian war. This is going to be the most intensive homework assignment you've had, because you will be memorizing a large amount of information about weaponry. However, come next week, I'll show you how to apply that knowledge to a single enemy. By the end of next week the goal is for each and every one of you to know from memory the firepower of each major type of shipped used by the Star Army, exactly how much firepower will be needed to take on specific kinds of known Kuvexian ships, albeit what little we know, and how to utilize your ship to maximum effectiveness in a large-scale battle. Furthermore, you should have a working understanding of the different weapon types, as in ballistic or energy, understand what they're best used against, and understand how to apply that knowledge to Kuvexian combat, so that you will be able to best equip your vessel while still at dock to be ready for a fight."

"Are there any questions?" Silence filled the room. "Excellent, so let's begin by talking about the difference between ballistic, energy, and aether weapons. Who can tell me how energy weapons function?..."

 

[Gabriel]

Kyoto War College - "The Academy"
Class: Starship Operations in the ̶P̶o̶s̶t̶-̶W̶a̶r̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶a̶t̶e̶r Kuvexian War
Week Fourteen, Fall Semester, YE 38

Ramiro sat on top of a desk, mid-way through a a lecture reviewing the semester's information in preparation for the students' final exam. With the start of the Kuvexian war his class topics took an unexpected shift, but there were few soldiers in the Star Army with as much experience piloting starships in a wartime setting. However, when wartime breaks out, experience is always in demand, and this time around there were very few veterans in the Star Army were able to retain the luxury of their noncombat role, and even fewer who agreed with this decision.

"...And as long as you continue to redistribute turret priorities, or for those of you who are being assigned to Carrier positions, as long as you continue to maintain targeting communications with your dispatched squadrons, you will maximize the utility of your firepower. No shot should go wasted, and firing 30 turrets at an already-damaged power armor is overkill. And, while I've never been one to disagree with a little bit of overkill, when there's 15 other power armors swarming your starship, wasting shots on overkill might be what pushes the battle in the enemy's favor. More fights than you'll care for will come down a very thin line between winning and losing, and destroying one enemy at a time, when you could be destroying 2-3, are one of those things that will make you lose."

Ramiro hopped off the desk and strolled over to the center of the room. He then picked up an electronic tablet that he had been lecturing from and tapped the screen a few times.

"Now, your final exams are next week. Because of the importance of this exam, I've asked the administration to block off all of next Friday. Yes, I know your exams are supposed to be finished Thursday, yes I know this sucks something major, and yes I know that the Yule season is upon us. But, especially for those of you have been assigned to Starship Operations, which is most of you since this is not a required course for any other MOS, this is the difference between life and death. Not only have I moved the time, but I've abnormally distributed the grading curve. What was an A+ through B+ is now in the A range, B through B- is now in the B range, but old C+'s will now encompass the whole C range, what was a C or C- will fall somewhere in the D range, and what was a C/D through D- is now a failing grade. Nobody, not a single fucking one of you, will step foot on a starship unless I'm convinced that it won't get anyone killed. What, in a peacetime class, would have pulled from a high D will get someone killed in a war."

"I've also emailed out a new grading rubric. This exam will encompass three different simulated exercises. The Academy has a few Henry-Chen Class Training Ships available to us for the day. You will rotate between four simulated exercises. One will take place on a different simulated vessel. They are as follows: A reconnaissance and exploration mission on board a Midori-Class Scout Ship, a seek and destroy mission on board a Plumeria-Class Medium Gunship, a planetary bombardment mission while commanding a Heitan-Class Carrier, and a large-scale combat mission on board a Sharie-Class Battleship. Guess which one was added for the exam this year. This will be a standards-based grading system, where meeting expectations will be your baseline from which I grade. Exceeding expectations will earns a few additional points, failing to meet expectations will lose you the equivalent number of points as two exceeding expectations. I'd rather have an officer that is decent at everything than an officer who is really good at some things but really bad at others."

"Between the four examinations there will be 100 different graded criteria. A minimum passing grade would be meeting expectations in 96 categories and failing 4; failing 5 absent any 'Exceeds' is a fail. Failing to meet expectations on 37 or more categories will make it mathematically impossible to pass, even if you exceed expectations in all others. Only four of these categories will be whether or not your overall mission was successful, one for each simulation, so don't get hung up whether or not you 'won'. Sometimes there are more important things than winning, and success can be defined many different ways. There will also be five non-graded sections, which are aspects of operating a starship that I deem to be of critical importance. They are assessed on a 'Go/No Go standard, they do not factor into your exam score in any way, but they will factor into your final grade in one way: A 'No Go' is an automatic failing grade. No excuses, no exceptions. While I won't tell you exactly what will happen in the simulations to bring about the relevant scenario, I'll give you a rough idea of what these automatic-failure criteria will encompass. You will be expected to perform some form of navigation with limited computer assistance; you will be expected properly follow the orders of your superiors, within the confines of Yamatain law, hint hint nudge nudge; you will need to know the firepower of major known Kuvexian and NMX ships, and make a determination of which ships to directly engage; you will need to know the rules of engagement and make a determination of whether to engage in a certain situation; and you will need to maintain correct Readiness Conditions throughout the examination, as well as give direct and specific orders as to what your crew needs to do in order to bring the ship to the required readiness condition."

Ramiro looked up from his tablet, giving the class a few moments to finish typing what he had just said, before he continued. "That will bring our final class session to a close. Are there any questions before I dismiss you all?

The students, now a bit more familiar with Ramiro, had become more bold with their questions. "So, will you be around over the next week to bug with questions? Or, you know, hang out with in your office when we're procrastinating?"

Ramiro chuckled. "You can bring a case of beer for all I care because, unfortunately, I won't be there if you come by. And I won't be grading your examinations. They've sent my boss to take care of that."

One of the Nekos up front made an obviously sarcastic, "Aw, that's such a shame, that you won't be able to fail us all. Going on vacation?"

"The fuck's a vacation?" Ramiro responded as though he had been offended. "Orders. You remember how I said veterans rarely get to keep their cushy non-combat roles once war breaks out? Well, in case you haven't noticed, war has broken out, so for reasons beyond understanding they're giving my cushy non-combat role to some career educator who has never flown a combat mission in his life and will probably teach his students straight from a text book. Once I'm finished writing one, hopefully he'll use mine. Make sure those poor souls actually learn something."

"So where are they forcing you, Juni?" The same Neko inquired.

Ramiro gave an offended expression again. "Forced? Have you people learned nothing about me since we started? They didn't force me anywhere. If it were up to me I would have left you sorry sacks two months ago when I requested a transfer to a combat role, but the wisdom of the command chain thought it would be damaging to your poor academic environments if they left me leave before the semester was over. But, I managed to convince them that you don't need me for exams. So, I've got my bag packed," Ramiro said as he reached behind the desk and pulled out a lone duffel bag, "and I catch my shuttle in..." Ramiro trailed off has he looked at the time on the wall. "About twenty minutes."

The Neko shot Ramiro a sarcastic look. "Okay, but you still never told where they're allowing you to go."

Ramiro gave the same devilish grin that he started his first class with as he hiked the bag over his shoulder. "Home," he said as he gleefully nodded his head. "Class dismissed."