New Simulation

After having their breakfast to their fill, Alexis, Natalia and Liam went to the academy together. With less than a month left for the final assessment, each and every Professor was rushing their courses so as to finish it within time.

Professor Tobias was ahead of his schedule so there was no need to rush his courses. He was showing the pictures and exploded views of Raider 01 and was explaining the mechanical aspects of that battle craft.

Natalia was attentively listening to the lecture because she needed to understand it as well as she could. She wanted to be able to repair the Raider 01 that they had found; it was a matter of a pride to her.

When Professor Tobias was explaining, Natalia was simultaneously remembering the actual layout of the engine which she had gone through yesterday. And she was comparing them side by side to find out where the actual fault was.

However, she did not find any faults in the engine or any other parts. From the blueprint that Professor Tobias showed and from what he explained, they seemed to be in perfect condition.

"So what exactly is the problem? If everything is in perfect condition, why won't it start?" Natalia was pondering over this deeply when Tobias asked her a question.

"Natalia, was there any problem with the explanation? Is there something that you would like to ask?" Tobias noticed that Natalia had been staring at the blueprint for quite some time now and wanted to make sure that she understood his explanations.

Natalia was jolted back to the classroom from her inner thoughts. "Yes Professor, I wanted to ask something. Is there any chance that the battle craft won't start even when the engine is working and the power source is also intact?"

There was a brief silence in the whole classroom. And Natalia could swear that she saw a frown on Professor Tobias's face. But it vanished quickly and he said in a calm voice, "If both engine and power source are intact then I don't see a reason as to why it would not work."

Natalia went red because she felt that she had just asked him a stupid question. All the students in the classroom were taking a glance at her and were whispering something to one another.

Natalia sighed and thought to herself, "It does sound like a stupid question but it is true that the craft is not working. Maybe I should just focus on what the Professor is explaining for now. I will ask Mr. Harper about this, maybe he knows something."

After the class was over, Professor Tobias uploaded the materials in the academy's server so that the students would be able to access it as reference for their examination.

"Well, at least I can access the blueprint now" Natalia was thinking this when she was packing her bag. She started to head to her next class but what she did not realize was that Professor Tobias was still standing on the front.

"Natalia" Tobias called for her when she was about to leave the room.

"Yes Professor" Natalia turned around to face towards the Professor.

"I couldn't help but ask. Have you come across a Raider 01 before?" Tobias curiously stared at Natalia for her answer.

Natalia was caught off-guard by this question of the Professor. And all she could do was laugh nervously for quite a few seconds. Then finally she gathered herself and said nervously, "H-how would a student like me come across a Raider 01?"

"Hmm, I thought that maybe David had told you about it or had shown the craft to you." Tobias paused for some time, lost in his own thoughts and finally said with a smile, "Never mind me. I don't want to make you late for your next class."

Natalia awkwardly smiled back at her Professor and then left the classroom.

"Why did I never think of that? Maybe dad knows something about Raider 01 which I don't. Why else would the Professor ask me if I had come across that craft before?" Natalia mumbled to herself as she walked to the Simulation class.

Alexis was waiting in front of the class for Natalia. "So, did you get a chance to ask the Professor about the Raider?"

Natalia puckered in disappointment and said, "I did get a chance to ask him. But the problem is that there is no problem at all."

"Huh! What do you mean by that?" Alexis was confused by this statement of Natalia.

Then Natalia blurted out the detail because they were almost late for their simulation class. "I mean I compared the blueprint with what I had seen yesterday, and there does not seem to be any problem with the engine parts. And when I asked the Professor if there was a chance for the Raider to not start when its engine and core are intact, he said that it should have worked. But I think there is something more to it. I will find out soon."

Alexis and Natalia ran inside the class. Liam had already gone to his deck and Natalia also headed to her own station.

"Well I hope it doesn't get awkward." Alexis took a deep breath in before she walked inside the main cabin and finally went in.

And to her relief, Jimmy greeted her like he would normally do. "Hey! Alexis" He gave her a bright smile like always.

"Hey! Jimmy" Alexis also smiled at him and went to her seat.

When all of the students had settled down in their own seats or decks, an announcement was made by Professor Harvey who was the in-charge of the simulation class. He also was an ex-captain at IGT Fed, which made him perfect to oversee this course.

"Good afternoon dear students! So far we had always been doing normal simulations where you needed to go to a certain coordinate, gather information, and then return back to the base."

Every student listened attentively because they would rarely get announcements like this.

Professor Harvey continued in a serious voice, "However, today we have changed the modality of the simulation. But I am not going to say beforehand what was changed. You have to find that out yourself. We have given you a coordinate. And you will find out what is new when you reach there. Everyone, please take this simulation seriously. Begin!"

The announcement had everyone on their toes. Everyone was on high alert as if they were going out there in space for real. Jimmy was the Captain for today's simulation while Alexis was the pilot.

Jimmy also felt the pressure to perform well because of the announcement. He sat on the Captain's seat and strapped on the belt. And then he ordered the pilot, "Ms. Alexis, set the course for our destination."

"Yes Captain" Alexis ran a ship wide communication and then announced, "Crews of Voyager R-29, this is your Pilot speaking. Please take your seat and put your seat belt on. We will take off in 10 seconds."

Then Alexis was constantly flipping switches and simultaneously informing the Captain of her actions, "Spin activated… Other side of the bridge created… Entering the wormhole in 3… 2… 1…"

After she said this, everyone inside the ship felt a sudden pull and then that pull stopped with a jerk. They were on the other side of the wormhole, in their simulation. As soon as they entered the other side, they could see a damaged vessel on their screen.

"Monica, status report, what are we seeing?" Jimmy shouted at one of the student as soon as the visual of damaged vessel was displayed on the screen.

The student went through the database and then searched for the vessel record in that coordinate. "This is another spaceship of the Federation. There has not been any damage report yet, it mean it must have happened no more than an hour ago."

Jimmy turned to his side and ordered the student who was playing to be the Lieutenant, "Andy, take 10 sergeants with you and check for any survivors."

"Yes Captain." Andy immediately contacted the sergeants "I want 10 sergeants to gather up and come to the gear room" and he ran out of the main cabin to go to the gear room.

Then Jimmy ordered the girl named Monica, "Monica, report the damage to the base." Monica swiftly replied "Yes Captain" and she immediately got to her work.

The 10 of the sergeants also joined Andy in the gear room. They all geared up in their suits and then headed to a room. There was a big room inside the simulation class which would act as space. That room had zero gravity and the damaged ship was displayed with a holographic visual.

If it was reality, they would have used a shuttle for a rescue mission. But for the sake of simulation, they would go in their spacesuits.

Then Jimmy turned towards Alexis and gave her an order, "Alexis, put the shield up, just in case."

"Yes Captain" Alexis raised the shield of the Voyager which would resist some level of outer attacks.

Andy contacted Jimmy via his comms device and sent him a visual of the ship and said, "There are five survivors inside, three of them are near the emergency hatch and two are in the main cabin."

Five staffs of the college were playing the role of the survivors.

"Good job Andy. Bring them in." Jimmy said to Andy and then he turned on the ship wide communication and made an announcement, "Attention Everyone. This is your captain speaking. As you all can see on your screens, there is a damaged ship in front of us. We just received information that there are five survivors there. A rescue mission is currently under operation."

Jimmy was now somewhat calm when he knew that it was a rescue mission. He continued with his calm voice, "Doctors, I want every one of you on high alert and ready for any medical emergency."

But what Jimmy did not know was that it was not going to be that easy task this time. There was definitely more.