Random draw commencing…
Before Zhao Chen could dwell on it, a cursor began flicking rapidly among the three options, for all the world like the pointer on a spinning wheel.
At the last, the cursor came to rest on Option II.
Congratulations, Host — acquired: the "fleet Luck-value bonus" and the "Eye of Insight."
Host is to obey, without condition, the rule that "the fleet may recruit only female soldiers." Any violation will see the two rewards above revoked, and will incur an unspecified punishment besides!!!
Zhao Chen put a hand over his face.
Only women… that clause was, well, a little on the nose, wasn't it… And yet, for reasons he couldn't name, somewhere in his heart there was even a faint flicker of anticipation.
But first things first. Since the fact could no longer be changed, he might as well let it take its course.
He looked over the two rewards he'd gained.
First was the "fleet Luck-value bonus" — which, as the name suggested, meant that Zhao Chen himself, and anyone whatever within a fleet under his name, would enjoy a certain boost to their luck. As for the precise effect, there was no telling; luck, after all, was too slippery a thing to pin down.
Second was the "Eye of Insight." This he could use aboard his own starship, on any species at all, to read whether the other party bore him hostility or murderous intent. Which was to say: so long as he was aboard his own starship, Zhao Chen was absolutely safe.
"Class will end here for today, everyone. This term is nearly over, and from the start of next term we move on to combat-oriented, hands-on study. Since you are all cadets of the captaincy track, by that time each of you will need a starship of your own. That starship may be one you purchase yourselves, or one redeemed with academy credits. As for the crew aboard, they may be cadets from the academy's other departments, or crew you engage yourselves — so long as the relevant regulations are met." Having made this announcement, the teacher left the classroom.
What the teacher had announced concerned next term's curriculum: every cadet was to have a starship of their own ready.
Those with money behind them could buy one outright. Those less flush could dip into the academy credits banked over their first three years and redeem a ship from the academy's roster.
At once every cadet fell to discussing the ship they'd be laying in.
"I'm telling you, my old man's already lined up a T2-tier interstellar destroyer for me — this year's newest improved model, and it's been the hottest-selling ship of the last decade."
"Pff. You know what a man's romance is? Giant ships and giant guns! If you're going to sail, sail an interstellar battleship! That's a man's toy!"
"Easy for you — good families, the lot of you. Not me. I'll settle for a frigate, just enough to see me through graduation."
Listening to the cadets around him hash it out, Zhao Chen couldn't help but fall to imagining a starship of his own.
He was a young man, after all — and what boy hadn't dreamed, as a child, of ranging across the cosmos?
"Old Zhao, have you settled on what you're redeeming? You'd best get a move on. The academy's list of redeemable ships is a long one, sure — but hang back too long and the good ships will be gone. And on top of that, you've still got a crew to round up." Li Wei sidled over beside him.
Zhao Chen asked idly, "How are your own preparations coming?"
Li Wei grinned and raised a hand. At his wrist he wore something like a watch, but light as a shaving of gossamer — a handheld terminal — and from it a holographic projection cast a three-dimensional image into the air: a model of a starship.
Its lines were fairly traditional, not unlike the ships of ancient days. Several main guns and a bank of missile launchers could be made out along it.
"T2-tier Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer — going for 4.3 million star coins on the market right now! My dad ordered it for me, and he's even seen to the crew — every last one of them a veteran with 10 years and more of service behind him!" As Li Wei finished, something seemed to occur to him.
He looked at Zhao Chen with a touch of worry. "Old Zhao, listen… if you really can't turn up a decent ship in the academy warehouse, I could put in a word with my dad and have him help you—"
"It's fine. I've already got a notion about the ship business. Once we've eaten, we'll go and claim mine." Zhao Chen smiled.
Li Wei's family had a good pedigree — they were in the interstellar trade, and were said to rank among the top 10 in the Starlight Empire's northern star region. That they should lay out a T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer worth 4 million star coins was no surprise at all.
Their chatter done, Zhao Chen and Li Wei set off together for the academy cafeteria.
On the way, Li Wei saw the far-off, distracted look on Zhao Chen's face and assumed he was still stewing over the matter of the ship.
In truth, Zhao Chen's rank and standing were not one bit beneath Li Wei's. Zhao Chen's father had died early, and Zhao Chen had already inherited a baron's title, along with a star-system fief.
The only pity was that the star-system fief Zhao Chen held was wretchedly poor in resources.
It was, moreover, a single-star system, which meant no star gate could be built there — and a system with no star gate and no distinctive resources could, for all practical purposes, be stamped with the label "worthless."
Zhao Chen's baronetcy traced back to his great-grandfather, once a fleet commander in the Starlight Empire's imperial navy, who had won battle-merit and been granted the title of count along with a fief.
But by the time of Zhao Chen's grandfather and father, neither had earned merit enough to raise the rank or even to hold it steady — so that, rung by rung, it had slid downward, until by Zhao Chen's turn the count's title had become a baron's.
And should no fresh merit be won in his own hands, his heirs would have no title to inherit, and the fief would be reclaimed by the empire.
As Zhao Chen's situation stood now, it was, frankly, all but hopeless.
By all accounts, in Zhao Chen's home system there wasn't so much as a single T2-tier starship to be found; the ships keeping order there were a handful of antique T1s. Mercifully, the very poverty of the system meant no interstellar pirate had ever thought it worth the trouble.
In the past, Li Wei had often wanted to lend Zhao Chen a hand — but Zhao Chen was a proud, hardheaded sort, and never once leaned on another's help.
"Um… Old Zhao, let's go sit over there." All of a sudden Li Wei draped an arm across Zhao Chen's shoulders and tried to steer him down a side path, as though deliberately steering clear of something.
But the person Li Wei didn't want Zhao Chen to see, Zhao Chen had already seen.
Jiang Shasha.
Zhao Chen's fiancée — in theory…
Only, at this moment, Zhao Chen's fiancée, this Jiang Shasha, was in the company of a male student; and anyone who knew Jiang Shasha knew that boy was courting her.
Li Wei clapped a hand over his face. Of all the cursed luck — how did they run into this woman everywhere they went?
He knew that Zhao Chen and Jiang Shasha had, in a manner of speaking, grown up together. Jiang Shasha and Zhao Chen were from the same star system — she was a hometown girl — and her family were nobles within Zhao Chen's fief, so the two had been betrothed since childhood.
Only, ever since Jiang Shasha had tested into this academy alongside Zhao Chen, everything had changed.
Because here at the academy there were boys of far more illustrious standing than Zhao Chen, boys who spent far more freely. Set beside them, Zhao Chen could only be reckoned a down-at-heel noble come up from the backcountry.
At the outset Zhao Chen had still been quite fond of Jiang Shasha, but her conduct had wounded him time and again. He'd even tried to win her back, only to meet her cold, pitiless treatment.
Li Wei knew that Zhao Chen had been heartbroken over it, unable to swallow a bite for days on end.
What Li Wei did not know was that this very day, wretched with heartbreak, Zhao Chen had for one dark moment lost his grip and swallowed poison to end it all — and that was how the present Zhao Chen had come to be.
"That table there, by the window — let's sit there." Zhao Chen turned down Li Wei's suggestion and walked straight ahead.
To an outsider's eyes, at that moment Zhao Chen was walking directly toward Jiang Shasha.