"You asked for me sir?" Lieutenant Christopher Taylor stood as straight as he could in front of the intimidating bulk of his teacher. There was still the slightest quiver that betrayed his nervousness, it wasn't often that the teacher called a student during after hours. Lt. Commander Jakob Ramius was a man who spoke rarely to anyone and was readily voted the "Baddest Son of a Russian Bitch" by the rest of the students in Mars Officer Candidate School, most of whom were given more than one month of latrine duty for speaking out of turn in his class. And Taylor was already feeling nauseas from today's exam on Naval tactics. He hadn't studied, instead he blew three hours on the local liquor someone had smuggled on campus and the rest of last night was a pleasant blur followed by a hammer this morning that told him last night's blur probably wasn't so pleasant. So Taylor failed the test and he was getting reprimanded for it here.

Ramius didn't look up from the holoscreen but merely gestured with a crooked finger. Taylor gulped and walked forward never forgetting that Ramius hadn't given him the permission to be "at ease" although Taylor almost certainly would never be "at ease" around him. Ramius continued to gaze at the holographic display which Taylor instantly recognized as displaying his essay. Crap.

"Let me read you something." Ramius said in his "quiet" voice which still projected loud enough to echo back in the closed room. "…It is not in that Captain Jacob Keyes showed any spark of genius at naval strategy rather than common sense. The so called "Keyes loop" was a fluke that only worked because his tactics were unconventional (meaning Keyes had a sense of self preservation) and the Covenant fleet was stupid. The Keyes Loop was simply the greatest example of how maneuverability and firepower are always the core of Naval Warfare both past and present and that Captains during the Covenant War typically disregarded that aspect and engaged Covenant Vessels directly which ultimately was the equivalent of tactical suicide being that the enemy had superior weaponry and defenses. Keyes was the first Captain to implement the two cores of Naval Warfare in combat with spectacular results which won him fame when it should have already been the norm amongst the Fleet."

That was straight from today's essay. Of course Ramius would see through the bullshit. Taylor clenched and unclenched his hand while staring directly at the random space on the bulkhead that was supposed to occupy his gaze while at attention. He remembered the answer to the damned question now of course, of how Keyes genius was what and had delayed the destruction of Sigma Octanus IV until the battle which was ultimately won. Of course Keyes was a genius, that was what the book said and why should he had answered differently? Because that was what Taylor was thinking at the time? No, he'd been put hard in the slammer the night and morning, he wasn't thinking straight anyway.

"And here's another." Ramius continued and flipped the screen to the next entry on Taylor's exam. "Closer toward the end of the Covenant war, while many UNSC soldiers, particularly in the Marine Corp displayed heroism, more often than not discipline collapsed in the face of overwhelming resistance, where fear and hopelessness time and again set in on troops fighting not only on the ground, but in the Navy too. Sailors would disregard commands of superiors and marines would break rank and run keeping little sense of discipline that had been instilled in them during training." It was only now that Ramius set his gaze on Taylor letting him see past the graying neatly trimmed beard and into a pair of steely grey eyes that had seen much. Ramius was a veteran of the Covenant War, Captain of the UNSC frigate Liberty Star and had served with apparent distinction during the battle of Earth. Taylor in stark contrast was a 22 year old swabbie that had apparently merited Officer Candidate school in orbit around Mars with brown hair and had only recently grown patchy facial hair enough that he had required the use of a razor, much to his comrades amusement. "Baby Face" Taylor they hollered openly in the hallways of Deimos Officer Candidate School.

"Why do you feel the need," Ramius said in his granite grating growl, "to constantly berate the finest Captain the UNSC ever had during the Covenant war?"

"The answers are written down sir." Taylor managed to say with even tones. He'd be getting red eye watches for the rest of the month, goddamn 0100-0400 every day waking up and sitting doing a bunch of nothing unless one fell asleep and faced the wrath of the school AI program Demosthenes, a 5th generation Smart AI with a personality and moral code as straight as a ruler and just as unbendable.

"Lieutenant, you have summed up all of the UNSC Navy problems in the entire war on this little test." Ramius chuckled. It sounded so strange Taylor almost broke from attention because he was so surprised. Ramius never showed so much expression beyond the occasional smirk as he marked off points on an exam.

"Sir?" Taylor said.

"At ease and speak freely, sailor." Ramius ordered and Taylor allowed himself to relax, rubbing the back of his neck which had become sore in the process. "You have definitely gone beyond what the book has taught you." Ramius nodded.

"To be honest sir, I didn't understand half of what I was writing-"

"Oh but you did Lieutenant." Ramius waved a stylus at him and gestured for Taylor to join him at the display where Ramius had brought up a holographic replay of a minor skirmish in the Covenant War. "You see here, watch what happens." It was a stacked battle, four UNSC frigates taking on a single Covenant destroyer at the edge of the star system. The enemy destroyer winked off of the display as it engaged its Slipspace drives and reappeared moments later immediately behind the UNSC frigates which were still struggling to take an opening formation.

"The Covenant are able to close the distance much more quickly than our own ships, and bring the fight to us. That keeps our ships on a defensive posture because he's behind them."

The covenant ship fired its guided plasma weapons, brilliant shades of blue slashed at the closest of four frigates, cutting it up and incapacitating it for the remainder of the battle. The human ships were unbearably slow to adjust to this new threat, the ships were sluggish as they maneuvered to bring their MAC weapons, the only effective weapon against a shielded covenant craft, to bear. As they turned to track, their captains fired missiles which were either destroyed by salvos of point laser fire or intercepted by the shimmering shield that surrounded all covenant spacecraft.

"See how our own ships don't even attempt to run, but try to keep formation? That doesn't work, not even here." Ramius scowled as the covenant destroy easily mopped up a second frigate. The remaining two UNSC ships had finally turned enough so that their MAC guns fired a staggered salvo, one round punched through the shield and sent the Covenant ship drifting on an unexpected trajectory while the second round missed completely. The destroyers engines flared as it tried to regain control of its maneuvering while the two frigates bore down on it, Archer missiles flaring toward it only to be swatted down by laser fire. A few missiles scored hits leaving no seeable damage.

Plasma torpedoes licked out once again and smashed into the lead UNSC frigate but cleared the way for a final shot by the survivor which holed the Covenant ship and cut its reactor, making it useless. The display winked off leaving the classroom surprisingly dark.

"And you, have just seen the result of a hundred years of complacent slow paced naval space combat." Ramius said. "Its as if our warfighting skills had been reduced to that of the Napoleanic era. We put so much money into reactor technology, and AI controllers but Admiralty still insisted on formation keeping and focused tactics. Can you understand the problem behind that Lieutenant?"

"I don't know sir." Taylor said, wishing he could actually leave now but taking a slight interest in this lecture.

"Oh of course you do. Just pretend like you didn't study for another essay."

Taylor winced inwardly, and caught a playful light behind Ramius's steely grey eyes. "Go on." He said.

"Well, if I were to guess, Admiralty was concerned more about the overall battle than the individual talents of the Captains." Taylor stuttered. His legs were getting very tired now, and he had to go meet his friends in the flight simulator rooms for after hours practice. He withheld the urge to check his watch. "Which is entirely understandable."

"But the wrong solution to the equation." Ramius nodded and closed his eyes to hide them behind bushy grey brows. "What is the point of creating such talented Captains and officers if your superior ignores those talents and restricts their ingenuity?"

"I don't know sir." Taylor admitted again. It was only when he answered that Taylor realized Ramius wasn't actually talking to him but had asked the question rhetorically. Ramius pinched the bridge of his nose and just sat there.

"Sir." Taylor said to remind him that he was there.

"Oh, yes." Ramius snapped out of it. "Very well written Lieutenant. I've been trying to teach this class to think for itself and I must say you are the first person this year to understand and think out of what the books tell us."

"Thank you sir." Taylor said while withholding a sigh of relief of not failing that exam. The holodisplay on Ramius's desk fizzled to life again but instead of any reports or battle simulations it was the drab grey suited image of the instructor avatar that was Demosthenes. She looked like a warden of a prison in Taylors opinion, Demosthenes typically appeared in a fleet uniform that lacked the sparkle and luster that so many other AI avatars took, and her hair black hair was always either in a bun or hidden under a service cap.

"Lt. Commander Ramius, there is a message awaiting your review." Demosthenes said without looking at Taylor.

"Thank you." Ramius said. "Lieutenant, you are dismissed."

"Before you leave 1st Lieutenant Taylor," Demosthenes now addressed Taylor with his monotone voice. For a 5th generation smart AI,s he was incredibly boring and in Taylors opinion lacked the "spark" that most others were reputed to have. "2nd Lieutenant Pierrera and 2nd Lieutenant Doyleare awaiting your arrival at the-"

"Flight simulator room." Taylor finished exasperatedly, drawing a flicker of annoyance from Demosthenes who finished "On G deck, Room 711."

"I remember my time in the simulators." Ramius said, "It was a good way to loosen up after an exam."

"First Lieutenant Taylor is going for remediation work." Demosthenes told Ramius before Taylor could reply with something much different. "his scores in astronavigation and flight patterns are in the lower tier of the class and while he has told his friends he's going there to unwind, it is my deduction from the cameras and voice recordings in his cabin that First Lieutenant Taylor is using it as a chance to sharpen his terrible skills in the cockpit."

Taylor flushed red. "Thank you Demosthenes."

"Always to be of service Lieutenant." Demosthenes nodded in reply and fizzled from the display.

"Okay man, you've done this a thousand times on paper." Pierrera patted Taylor on the back as Taylor settled into the helmsman's seat in the simulator room again. "Just take a deep breath, remember what you wrote down-"

"And try not to kill us all this time." Doyle grinned from the Principle Weapons station. It was just practice, not the actual final exam which would determine which students were fleet ready or not. The simulator room was, however identical to the bridge of a standard Heroic class destroyer and therefore a vital tool for the students at OCS and would be used to test them before they entered the fleet as fully fledged officers of the UNSC.
Taylor did as he was told, and took his breath while the algorithm for slipspace navigation and sublight travel to compensate with the velocity, rotation, and gravity of nearby stars planets and black holes flashed briefly in front of his closed eyes. Okay.

"Demosthenes, when you're ready." Taylor said.

"Random scenario now generated, booting ghost crewmen and captain, stand by for mission parameters." Demosthenes voice came over the simulator intercom.

Taylor loosened his neck and looked over at his friends, 2nd Lieutenant Miles Pierrera was the master flight jockey here. His MOS would be a Combat Aviator, flying the old workhorse of the UNSC fighter fleet, the Longsword heavy interceptor and he was drooling over the next generation short range interceptor, the Saber which was now being brought into production in limited numbers. Pierrera was probably born in the cockpit, top of the class in astronavigation and flight school, he managed to remain surprisingly humble even though the Naval pilots had a reputation for being hotheaded and balls out.

2nd Lieutenant Jonathan Doyle was in astral warfare much like Taylor and was a good friend if a little loudmouthed and on the short squat side of a body build.

"All ahead one third, make your heading two seven zero by three six zero." A "ghost" Captain's voice hailed inside the intercom.

"Aye sir, make my heading two seven zero by three six zero." Taylor responded and turned the wheel appropriately and saw the planesmen console which controlled the ships Z axis control move without anyone touching it. Demosthenes here, was simulating an entire bridge crew besides Taylor who was serving as the head of navigation and maneuvering.

"Are we clear of the station Lieutenant Johnson?" the invisible Captain asked to the Navigation console.

"aye sir, we are now forty six kilo klicks away from home point and proceeding at one third speed." The "ghost" lieutenant responded. Pierrera and Doyle sat easily in their seats just watching and listening. Taylor began to sweat and flex his fingers nervously.

"Spin up FTL drives and plot a course for Reach, prep for Slipspace jump." The captain ordered. On Taylor's console, numbers began crunching as the ghost crewmen did their duties and begin caluculations for the jump. Once they were finished, they would begin check offs,

"Engineering Go." A ghost shouted.

"Sublight Go." Another followed.

"FTL Go."

The final calculation appeared on Taylor's computer screen and he ran his eyes over it triple checking the work before breathing and saying "all preparations are complete Captain."

"Jump when ready."

Taylor took a deep breath and pressed the button-

Sparks exploded from the walls and the sound of static howled inside the room, letting him know he had failed again.

"God Damn it!" Taylor slammed a fist against the keyboard so hard it broke the skin off his knuckle. "what the hell happened?"

"Calculations for the correct jump were point zero three seven two-" Demosthenes began but Taylor was too angry to let her finish.

"A less than one margin of error?" Taylor shouted and hurled his service cap against the wall where it flopped to the deck.

"If you would allow me to finish First Lieutenant, then you would understand that the particular adjustment which you had failed to correct would have lead the ship straight into a black hole." Demosthenes said with the slightest hint of irritation in her voice.

"If I could have had you to double check it-"

"First Lieutenant." It was Demosthene's turn to interrupt now. "not every ship in the fleet is equipped with an Artificial Intelligence and the training curriculum clearly dictates that all commands and operations are still to be done without AI assistance unless specifically directed by an instructor."

"Ah Hell, what's it all anyway?" Taylor lifted his arms in exasperation, "Just washing out of OCS, never joining the Navy, it doesn't matter right?"

"Hey man." Pierrera got a grip on Taylor's shoulders. "Its okay right? We've got another month before the final exam, and the navigation part isn't worth that much anyway. We'll get you some chow and we'll head back to the dorm okay?"

"Yeah…yeah." Taylor shook Pierrera's arms off angrily and stormed off to get his cap. For all of the genius Ramius had praised Taylor with, it would have been nice to even be average at astronavigation.