Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC
Friday comes with something special: The first of the courses I’m playing taxi for is entering its final phase. That means that next week, I’ll be somewhere out there, teleporting a group of other students across the stars.
I'm invited to join their lesson on Friday to properly prepare for that and learn what the course is about. That’s where I’m heading right now.
As I still have Grandpa John’s words of me being spoiled on my mind, I decide to walk there, I’m early anyway. So, I stroll across campus and wave at the other people who recognize me from the Gravity Ball game on Tuesday. Ever since then, my whole team turned into something like celebrities at FBC. We’re the first team to beat RMA for a long time and I guess that’s worth celebrating for the other students.
Anyway, I reach building 09 and take the elevator to level 27, which is about halfway up the tower. Arriving there, I walk down the hallway to my left and enter the door that’s highlighted on my interface shortly after.
I stop at the threshold and look around. There they are! I haven’t had much contact with the group that hired me for this course, but at least I still remember their faces. The three boys and two girls sit in the front row but are all facing the entrance in the back.
That’s why they all immediately start to wave when they recognize me standing there. I smile and wave back, then I quickly walk over to them. “Hi there, long time no see,” I greet them and sit down next to the brown-haired girl sitting at the outermost seat.
I shamelessly cheat and have my interface displaying their names above their heads. The girl next to me is called Caroline. She grins at me. “Are you excited too? I can barely wait for next week!”
I nod. “Yeah, it’s a nice change of pace. I actually look forward to taking a role in the background for once. Those past weeks have been quite stressful, especially with my own Exploration course.”
“Oh, I get that,” Caroline replies. “I mean college is stressful enough with the courses I have. I can’t imagine taking up extra work and carrying people around. So thank you so much for helping us out!”
I hold up my hands in a placating gesture. “Don’t worry, I’m actually not running that many courses this year, so I’m good.”
“Oh, good. Thanks anyway, you’re a lifesaver.” She turns to look at one of the boys. “Hey Stan, do you have the shirt with you?”
Shirt?
The blue-haired young man with the name Stanley above his head gives a thumbs-up. “Sure have, one moment.”
He bents down and opens his bag. That’s when I notice all five of them wearing the same shirt. It shows a muscled figure with crossed arms and a very stern expression on their face. Above and below it are the words “S.C.S.P.U.K. Security – We keep you safe and sound!”
I look at them, dumbfounded. “You guys made uniforms?”
Caroline nods eagerly. “Yeah, we sure did. It’s our fictional company named after the first letters of our names.” She points at the second S of the capitalized letters at the beginning of the name. “Yours is included as well, look!”
I can’t help it and chuckle while I accept the shirt from Stan. Somehow this is too cute. With a shrug, I put it over my other clothes.
It takes a while longer until the instructor arrives so I take the time to get acquainted with the group a bit more. Besides Stan and Caroline, there is Paul, Ulia, and Kevin. They are all very grateful for my help and I keep telling them that I’m happy to do so.
Finally, a man walks in and closes the doors behind him. Caroline leans over and whispers in my ear. “That’s Instructor Schmidt… He looks so hot,” she sighs.
Schmidt, huh? He doesn’t look that part at all. He’s tall with black hair and broad as hell. His thighs are literal tree trunks and his dark shirt looks like it’s about to burst. He slowly walks toward the front and I can see the muscles rippling beneath his clothes.
I whisper back at Caroline with a raised eyebrow. “Schmidt, Schmidt?”
She nods. “Yeah, but not from the main line… At least he said so when he introduced himself. Not that I care… He could be named Idiot and I would happily jump on him.” She sighs again.
Looks like she’s hopelessly fallen for him. I suppress a laugh and turn around so that I’m facing the front where the instructor stopped behind a desk. The others turn around too, and slowly the conversations throughout the room die down.
Instructor Schmidt smiles. “Good morning, everyone. It’s a special day, as we’ve got some guests here with us today. Welcome young Space Mages to the Security course. I’ve heard my name whispered a few times already, but I still think it’s best if I introduce myself real quick.”
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I could swear he looked at Caroline when he said that part and is that amusement in his eyes?
“My name is Marius Schmidt, and yes it’s the Schmidt name.”
Yeah, he definitely heard us as he’s now looking at me. I glance at Caroline and see her blushing deeply. Looks like she noticed too. Oh well.
“But don’t bother with addressing me with any fancy titles or something. I’m about as far away from the main line as Terra is from The Empire’s borders.”
Okay, that’s pretty far, as we’re right in the center here. I’m still going to ask Bernd about him when I see him again.
“But enough about me. You’re here for the Security course and even if you’re only playing taxi, you should still have a basic understanding of what this actually means. That’s what we’re going to discuss today. First, I will give the newcomers among you a quick introduction to the course’s contents, then we’ll talk about the actual assessment that will happen next week out there in The Empire’s star systems.”
He waves his hand and a projection appears beside him. It shows something like an almost empty whiteboard that’s divided in the middle. The only content is the Peacekeeper logo on top of the right half.
“There are two parts of security that together form a protective cocoon throughout The Empire’s space. The more famous part is the Peacekeepers, our military. They protect us from external threats like acts of war or other acts of aggression against our nation. The important part here is the word external. While the Peacekeepers obviously handle internal matters if they are close, their main focus is external threats.”
The board fills itself while he is talking until the right side below the Peacekeeper logo is filled. Then he points at the still-empty part of the board.
“Now it should be obvious that focusing on external threats unfortunately can’t be enough… As regrettable as it sounds, there are still internal threats to consider as well. The main issue here is pirates and freighters. While there are Peacekeeper ships stationed in every star system, not all of them can have a Senior or above Space Mage aboard. This restricts their quick-response capabilities quite a lot.
“That’s where people like you come in. If you so choose, you can fill this second part of the security cocoon in The Empire. I’m talking about private security. People who escort freighters along their trade routes, people who hunt down pirates, or whatever else makes The Empire a safer place!”
While he speaks, the left half of the board fills itself with examples as well. I find it quite interesting because somehow I always thought the Security course was all about border control and things like that. But now I realize that I was being a bit dumb. Border control is obviously in the Peacekeeper’s hands. I literally experienced it myself after all…
Securing trade routes though? Yeah, I can see that being handled by non-military personnel. I guess that business is worth a LOT of money. And if you’d secure every single trade route with a Peacekeeper presence, you’d need billions of them… That’s not sustainable, especially during times of war.
So yeah, I didn’t expect the Security course to go in that direction, but after the instructor’s short explanation, it makes a lot of sense. Now I’m very curious what our actual assessment will be like.
Luckily, instructor Schmidt doesn’t let me wait and continues to speak. “Now that the newcomers among you have a quick overview of what the Security course is about, I’ll continue with talking about the actual assessment that will take place next week. Each group will be assigned to a college-owned starship. You will then receive a set of coordinates at which you will be meeting up with a freighter who has asked for protection. You will provide this protection!”
The hologram of the two columns of security next to him vanishes and he steps a bit closer to where we’re all sitting. “Most of you have learned what this entails during the past months, but I’ll still give a quick summary for our helping hands. Trade route security is more than simply flying escort. It also includes giving the freighter crew a helping hand whenever possible. This could be helping with customs or smoothing things over with border control. You’re basically keeping the freighter secure while supporting them to have the most positive travel experience.”
He waves his hand and another hologram appears next to him. This time it looks like a checklist. “Now, I obviously won’t throw you into cold water and send you out on an experience that could endanger you for real. Therefore, your whole trip with the freighter has been thoroughly planned by me and other members of the college staff. Also, to simplify grading, every group will experience the same situations. These are noted on the checklist next to me. You should also receive your own copy right about now.”
The checklist next to him fills in, and I get a notification on my interface at the same time. Let’s see…
- - Pirate attack
- - Corrupt customs officials
- - Border Control
- - Stowaway aboard the freighter
- - Possible surprise
Interesting… That’s quite different from the Exploration course. But especially the customs officials line is bothering me… How is it a challenge when we already know that they will be corrupt?
Instructor Schmidt continues to speak after a moment of silence. “Now you’re probably wondering about a few things… Like how is this assessment a challenge for us? Well, let me explain. Mostly, it’s about reacting. You don’t know when something will happen. And when it happens, it’ll be quick, so you have to stay ready. Also, for example, the corrupt customs officials… It sounds easy right now, but your trip will take you through multiple inspections, so you won’t know which one includes the corrupt officials.
“And now, one final thing before I’m open for questions. As this is a training exercise, there won’t be any live weapons! This also means no offensive spells. The A&D Mages among you have learned a Tracer spell, that can be used as a replacement during the pirate attack. The pirates will be using the same spell.”
Ahh, so the pirates will be college staff as well. That’s good to know. I wonder if we can capture them too.
Anyway, instructor Schmidt finishes his explanation and then there are obviously questions. Most of them concern some clarifications or similar things. Surprisingly, my group doesn’t have any questions. Instead, they look like they want to depart immediately.
I look at Caroline. “Don’t you have anything to ask as well?”
She shakes her head. “Nope, we prepared for months… Now we’re as ready as we can be. We’ve got the checklist, that’s enough. If it’s okay with you, we can leave and start planning for real now that we know what to expect.”
I glance at the instructor in the front who’s currently busy explaining why we won’t be using live weapons. “What about him? Won’t he take offense when we leave right now?”
“No, once he asks for questions, the lesson is officially over and people can leave.”
I shrug in response. “Alright, I’m only your taxi anyway. Let’s leave!”