The shuttle ride to The Leviathan lasted only twenty minutes but to Hiccup and Astrid it felt like time decided to play a cruel joke on them, and make every second seem like an hour. We were so excited to board the massive star ship, the anticipation was killing them. The ride was silent no one said a word but as the shuttle turned and the ship came into view, and there wasn't a single person not looking out the view port and gazing upon the ship.

The sheer size of it dwarfing even the tallest skyscrapers on Coruscant and making the Senate building look no bigger than a pebble. We felt the shuttle begin to slow down and not soon after we landed in the hangar bay. Gathering our bags and clutching the rifle case, we stepped off the shuttle to a pitch black reflective floor, so much so it was like looking in a mirror. We looked around the hangar bay and all around us TIE fighters and bombers were sitting on the hangar floor. Around some of the fighters were what looked like mechanics and next to them Stormtrooper pilots dressed head to toe in a black spacesuits, with breathing tubes coming out of their helmet connected to a small pack on their back.

We made what we assumed was eye contact with them and to be honest it was a little unnerving, we couldn't see their eyes but it still looked like they were trying to stare a hole right through us. The Imperial officer that was on the shuttle was leading our group out of the hangar and down the long corridors of the ship, stopped just before a set a blast doors.

Turning to us he began to speak "When we go through these doors you will find a seat and remain quiet, the captain of the ship will meet us in there to go over the rules and expected behavior of you cadets while you are on board The Leviathan is that clear?"

Without missing a beat the group of about 50 cadets replied "Yes sir". With that we entered a large atrium that was set up like a large lecture hall. Seats ran all the up the wall in a semi-circle pattern all facing toward the front of the room where there was a small podium, where the captain would stand. Everything was a dull gray and black color giving off kind of a depressing mood, but not enough to kill our good vibe. Finding our seats about half way up the rows, sitting in the center of the row we waited for the captain to enter the room. I looked over to Astrid who was still looking around the room with such an awe inspired look. Not from the room itself, I guessed just more of being on a Star Destroyer and trying to understand that it is real and no longer just a dream.

I nudged her shoulder bringing her out of her day dream like gaze and bringing her attention back to the realm of reality. Her sky blue eyes had such a softness to them that could make all my problems just disappear, her long blond hair always kept in her signature braid so it wouldn't get in the way whenever we were target shooting back on Coruscant. Just as I was about to speak the doors on the far side of the room flung open and in stepped two Stormtroopers, and an officer behind them. The two troopers stood at opposite ends of the room, blaster's held close and high up on their chest. Looking out at us and never moving a muscle always on guard. The officer stopped at the podium looking out over our group, he gave this smug chuckle as if he was seeing something genuinely funny.

He couldn't have been older than 30 or so, pretty young to be a captain I thought. He was tall and had short black hair and a complexion that would give snow a run for its money. He brought himself back together and began to speak

"Hello to you all, I am Captain Falen Shan but from this point on you will call me captain or sir is that understood?"

We all replied "Yes sir"

"Good I'm glad we got that taken care of, now you will be on my ship for the entirety of your journey to Mandalore so I'm only going to go over the rules once since I hate repeating myself. There aren't very many so listen up, rule number one you are not allowed to wonder about the ship freely, you are only allowed in certain areas which we will go over later. Rule number two this is not a pleasure yacht so no co-ed sleeping. Rule number three everyone on this ship is of higher rank than you are, so you will address them as either ma'am or sir. Rule number four you will do what we tell you, when we tell no questions asked. Breaking any of these rules can and will result in severe punishment. So if I were you, I would play nice and be on your best behavior, now if you would follow me we will take you to your dormitories and give you a tour of the ship."

We all stood up and filed out of the room through the same door that Captain Shan had come through, the corridors of the ship were long and uniformly colored grey with a black reflective floor. Little black mouse droids whirled by us on the floor, squads of Stormtroopers walking in sync up and down the corridors before disappearing into a room following whatever orders they were surely given. We continued walking for another five minutes as we reached another set of blast doors,

Captain Shan turned to us and said "beyond these doors are your dormitories to make everything nice and easy men on the right women on the left. You have five minutes to find a room and put your things down."

Never had we moved so fast in our life, we didn't want to start our military career off by getting reprimanded for something like being too slow. Astrid and I found our rooms which were right across the hall from one another we hated the idea of not being together the way we wanted to, but this was the next best thing so we made the best of it. After hiding my rifle in my room and locking the door we made our way back to the Captain to continue the tour.

The tour consisted of showing us the mess hall, the bridge, and a training room that had free weights and a computer for us to research and look up whatever we wanted. Astrid had been really excited about the training room, the thought of being able to keep busy and not let her skills dull put a massive smile on her face. The tour ended with us back at the dorms, the captain bid us farewell and told us to not cause trouble on his ship or else. Before he left I asked him how long before we would reach Mandalore? He replied with it will be a 10 day trip to reach Mandalore. With that the captain was gone and left us to our own to find out what we would do with ourselves for 10 days?