Cayla, Petra, Bean, Bernard, Dink and Alai all stood waiting for Ender. He and Rackam entered, Ender smiling when he saw his friends. It was the first time in months that they had seen each other.

"Attention!"

"Officer on deck," Bean smirked.

"Hey, Bean," Ender nodded.

"Ho, Commander," Bean replied, smiling.

"Long time, no see, Cay."

"Took your time, Wiggin."

Ender rolled his eyes. "Petra."

"We thought you had been iced. We were gonna have Dink take over," The brunette said thankfully.

"That was never gonna happen with Cay over there standing in," Dink laughed. The only blonde rolled her eyes.

"Salam, Alai."

"Salam, Commander."

"Bernard."

"Good to see you, sir."

"At ease."

"While you've been skinny dipping, the Colonel has been fogging us to death with the simulator; Cay-Cay over there was our stand-in commander," Bean explained, smiling. Cayla, on the other hand, did not look pleased with her new nickname. Ender raised an eyebrow at Cayla.

"Before you laugh, he's been calling me that since Dragon army."

Although Ender did start to laugh, he was quickly silenced by Cayla's glare.

"Sorry."

"Alright! Take your seats," Rakham spoke up.


"What are they doing?" Bean asked.

"Harvesting water," Ender explained, studying the simulated Formics a bit closer.

"If you're going to use me, I need to be closer," Petra pointed out.

"She's right. We can't reveal our best weapon," Cay agreed.

Ender nodded. "This should be an easy attack. Alai, Bean, your drones bear them away from below the ice and mirror their path."

"They're swarming!" Cayla informed.

"They see us," Bernard added.

"Deploy all drones! Give me four hyperbolic formations with ninety degree offsets," Ender ordered. "Open fire! Bean, Alai on my call you will fire directly up into the ice."

"We're gonna shred 'em!" Alai exclaimed.

"In three, two, one. Now!" The commander shouted. The fire destroyed every ship in sight.

The team had won that simulation but little did they know, it was about to get a whole lot harder.


"I've got the break away!" Bean shouted as Ender looked over the battle.

"Great work, Bean. Squadrons forty-three through fifty-seven split to squadrons five and eighty-nine."

"Ender, we need more backup for Bernard!" Petra called.

"I see it. Bernard, you flag them," Ender ordered.

"Copy that; using ten through eighteen," Bernard responded.

"Alai, peel right! Dink, compensate for the pull of planet G8 and full throttle! Bean, mop up in sector sierra."

"I've got a splinter left in Lima."

"Ender, let them improvise. You need to focus on the big picture!" Cayla told the Commander but did he listen? No.

"Do Sierra now! Bernard, watch your speed, Dink, you're closing in too fast!"

"You said full throttle!"

"Pull back now, Dink!"

The army exploded into millions of pieces. They had failed again.

'Mission failed' covered their screens in bright red writing. Cayla rested her head in her hands.

"Thank god this one was the final simulation and not the real final battle otherwise we'd be done for," she thought.


"This is why I said we should have trained the girl instead and left him on Earth," Rackam hissed at Graff before turning his attention back to Ender. "You know I've trained others. So full of hope, they were, but they didn't have good strategies. I could have taken out Petra's little doctor while you were ordering Alai, Dink and Bean about!"

"So I'm not the first?" Ender asked.

"No. But you will be the last. There's no time to train anyone else," The Australian colonel explained.

"In two days time colonel Rackam will run your final simulation. Tomorrow is your day to rest and prepare," Graff told the cadet.

"And if I win? What happens then?"

"You'll be ready to face the real enemy."

"And you'll be the finest commander we've ever trained," Graff added.

"Cadet Parker!" Cayla walked towards them. "We need to discuss a few things. Wiggin, you are free to go."


"Are you sure this is right?"

"Positive. Besides, she was always better in hand to hand combat. With Ender commanding, she'll be fine."

"You really think he'll be able to keep her alive with the way he acted on today's simulation?"

"I've watched this kid grow up, of course I have faith in him."

"What happens if she's not okay? He'll crumble. She is his rock, the person he leans on most."

"I know. Major Anderson and I have discussed this before. Don't worry, she'll be fine. He thinks it's a game. After today, he knows not to do anything too drastic."

"I just hope you're right."


"Hey, Bean!" Cayla called, running up to the boy.

"What's up, Cay-Cay?" He asked.

"For the final assessment I won't be there. They want me to be somewhere else to see if Andy'll be able to win without me there," The blonde explained. "Promise me you'll stop him from doing anything too drastic."

"Somewhere?"

"Out and about."

"Cay, no. You're not-"

"Why do you think I asked, Bean?"

"You can't do this!" The boy shouted.

"It's not my decision Bean!" The girl exclaimed.

"It should be!"

"But it's not. I needed to tell you that the assessment in two days isn't an assessment; it's the real thing. One other thing; don't tell him. He won't do it otherwise," She explained.

"So this is goodbye?"

"Just for now I hope."

"Good luck, Cay-Cay."

"Good luck, Bean."


Sorry that it's been a while but I haven't had muse for this and it's just been Christmas so that put it off even more.

Anyways, don't forget to favorite, follow and review.

See you next time,

supernerdyfangirl