-Turian Armada Academy, 7:00 Turo Standard Time-

"Did you see the headline?" The second 626 had entered the cafeteria Mikk had worked his way over, copy of the Fleemzorg Weekly Gazette in hand.

626 shook his head. "Everything alright?" Mikk had a grimmer expression on his face than he'd seen before.

Wordlessly, Mikk held up the front page of the newspaper. Emblazoned in bold headlines were the words "BIOTERRORIST ESCAPES", and below them were the mugshots of a certain rather-familiar Kweltikwan.

Blitznak, 626 thought, how in SPACE did he escape? Just as he had on the Durgon 626 suddenly felt a large swooping sensation and the (mercifully slight) urge to throw up. He kept reading:

At 2:00 This morning TST, Dr. Jumba Jookiba escaped his maximum-security cell on Prison Asteroid K-37 by somehow coercing a guard to open his cell door. Dr. Jookiba then stole the guard's key and fled, killing several guards and disabling multiple security guards before escaping with the help of an as-yet unknown accomplice in what is believed to be his personal shuttle. Readers are to be reminded that Dr. Jookiba is to be avoided at all costs and is to be considered highly dangerous. If you believe that you have information to report about the escaped criminal, Armada Central Command has created a hotline at the number 1031-1942-0303-2018. The rest of the article gave a brief rundown of Jumba's crimes and concluded with speculation on to where he would be headed. 626 finished reading, folded up the paper, and tried to ignore his spinning head.

"Well, at least he probably knows better than to try to come after you again." Kuhio tried to give a reassuring smile. "After what happened last time I don't think he'll risk it."

"Honestly he might just make for some bolt-hole in the middle of nowhere and lay low for now." Mikk suggested. "It's what I would do."

"Can we not talk about this now? It's test day." Although 626 was glad that his friends were trying to cheer him up, he really didn't want to get drawn into a long discussion on Jumba the day of their flight test. After all, today was the day he'd get to strut his stuff and finally get back in the pilot seat of a cruiser. If everything went well it meant that he could graduate to more advanced training and get the chance to actually fly, so 626 was determined not to let the matter of his renegade creator interfere with his focus.

Mikk and Spon looked at eachother and shrugged. "Fine," said Spon, "but just so you know I've already let it be known that if anyone wants to accuse you of playing some role in this their welcome to meet me behind the kitchen dumpster to talk about it."

626 snorted and went back to his breakfast.

After breakfast it was off to the hangar bay to receive instructions for testing. The flight instructor, an old Armada fellow named Dyn who Obrea had spoken fairly highly of in the past, began telling the cadets about their test for the day.

"Now this test will consist of two parts. Obviously a big part of flying is actually knowing how to handle your ship, so each of you will be tested on that individually. This portion will take up the morning, and while each of you is tested I expect the others to be waiting quietly and reviewing the material."

"Shouldn't we be watching the previous tests, sir? So we know what to expect?" It was a cadet 626 didn't really know well who answered, a girl by the name of Melia.

Dyn shook his head. "No. That way everyone has the same amount of awareness going in. It also tests how you react to unexpected developments. Obviously, this is another part of flying well. After I finish testing all of you, you will have an hour to go your own way for lunch. Then, once that hour is up I expect to see all of you in the flight simulator room so we can test how you fly in a combat group. Obviously we can't hurl actual enemy fighters at you and risk killing you, so this is the best substitute. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir!" The cadets answered.

"Good." He looked over the group, choosing who would be the first victim. "Dixon. You're up."

The Raptrian grunted an affirmative and followed behind. As he left Spon turned to the rest of them and asked, "Who wants to start a betting pool on how many times Dyn says 'obviously' before the day is out?"

626 wound up going third, after Dixon had finished (and strutted back through looking quite smug, 626 thought) and that Melia girl (Who had come back similarly pleased, if a bit humbler about it). He followed Dyn into the hangar, stopping when the instructor leaned against a modified police cruiser. 626 looked out past him and saw that the hangar was open – he could make out what looked to be some sort of electric net in the distance, as well as a few of the cannons they used in ground training. Well, least there's one familiar obstacle, he thought.

The test, as it turned out, was fairly simple: all 626 had to do was fly through the obstacle course without getting his ship too banged up while hitting all twenty relay points in order. If 626 took too long or the ship sustained enough 'damage' that would be problematic in real life, he would automatically fail.

"I imagine that this seems easy, but obviously I'll be throwing in some wrinkles to keep you on your toes. You do have toes, right? You look like you would. Anyways, the cruiser has a radio system in it, and I will be on the other end. That way I can keep you appraised of your progress, and if you do happen to earn a premature fail I'll obviously radio that along. Is that clear?"

626 had to fight back the urge to say 'seems obvious enough' and instead settled for just thinking Five. If Dyn made it to ten but not to thirteen, he'd stand a good shot of both passing his flight exam and earning a decent bit of pocket change on the side.

626 turned on the engine and booted up the systems, listening to the purr of the engine. God, it felt good to be back in an actual pilot seat.

"Engine, Check. Auto Brake, Off. Compass Controllers, Slaved. Emergency Lights, Armed. Seat Belt, On." And on and on it went, until 626 had gone through the entire list. Huh. Programming's really coming in handy. Thanks, Jumba. For once. Jumba. Hmmm. Where's he off to right now? I doubt he's stupid to go back to the lab, but maybe that Gapra planet? Might be a good place for a scientist. 626 realized his focus was drifting and shook his head. Focus! He activated the engine and took off towards the first relay point.

"Apologies for the slight delay in takeoff," he announced as it seemed the smart thing to do, "I had to clear my head for a moment."

"Stay focused, cadet." Was the only response.

The first obstacle was easy to circumvent: the relay point hung directly from the roof of the hangar, so all 626 had to do was fly just high enough to hit it without tagging the roof. Then he was out in the open sky, free to maneuver how he wished. The next two relay points were similarly easy, simply floating freely in the sky. 626 hit the earlier of the two and made a quick 60 degree turn to hit the next.

Then, the net activated. 626 could see that the next few relay points were located between gaps in the electricity. It looked like this would require a bit of tricky maneuvering. At least, tricky to someone else. He grinned. Compared to the net outside Jumba's lab, this was nothing. Heh, maybe I'LL be the one to catch him. Again.

Suddenly, 626 realized that he was right on top of the net; he'd lost focus again! Blitznak! He slammed on the break, waited for his cruiser to point straight down, and gunned it. He just barely managed to hit the fourth relay point, but managed cleaner hits on the next three. Quarter of the way there, he thought. Then, he was out of the net. Before he got to the next hazard he admonished himself. Stay focused, damn it!

He was flying over what looked to be open grassland with nothing in front of him to suggest a challenge. What's going on?

Dyn provided the answer. "The next bit will be a laser-simulated mountain. We obviously don't want to risk losing either a cadet or that cruiser in a collision with a real one if we can help it (six, 626 thought to himself), but you'll still register as a collision should you graze the 'sides'. The lasers then flared to life, and 626 whistled as he saw a mountain spring up before his very eyes. The next eight relay points were situated at different points here and there, and it looked like he would have to fly through a simulated tunnel to get to them. As he approached the mountain 626 noticed that the 'tunnel' only gave enough clearance to squeeze through and maybe maneuver up and down a smidge. Hell of a tight fit.

The first couple relay points were easy enough as all 626 had to do was follow the path, but from there things got quite a bit harder: suddenly the passageway began to squeeze and cut at odd angles, and halfway between the fifth and sixth the passageway took such a hard turn back down that 626 grazed the cockpit against the lasers.

Small dents detected, the computer informed him, and slight loss of paint.

626 groaned. "Shut up." Hopefully that wouldn't be too many points lost, but still. He could do better than that. And to prove it, he made extra sure to watch out for the last few twists and turns. And then, he was out. Now all that was left were five points on the way home, and he just had to get past a few cannons. Thankfully he'd made extra sure to study the way they worked and how they tracked, and he'd come up with an unorthodox solution: as he approached the first relay point of the five, he immediately shot at a hard left towards one of the cannons. He flew directly at it and then looped back around towards the relay point fast enough that the cannon directly behind it didn't have time to recalibrate its shot. Thus, as 626 hit the relay marker one cannon hit the other. "Haha!" He grinned. It worked! A few more bobs and weaves later, and he was back in the hangar after a quick little snap-flourish at the end.

Dyn greeted him as he exited. "That was impressive, 626. Obviously (eight) there's room for improvement, but your method of dealing with the cannons was unorthodox and clever."

"Thank you, sir."

"Still, your experiences with the net and in the tunnel show that you still need to work on your focus. I suggest you keep that in mind. You are dismissed. Feel free to do whatever you wish until 1500 hours, at which point I will see you in the flight simulators."

626 walked back through where the other cadets were waiting. When he heard Dyn announce "Spon" he wished his friend luck and then left. Time for lunch and more studying.