Oh my freaking god I accidentally abandoned this story for almost a month. I'm really sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen, but for some reason, this is the one I always forget to update.

This one's a direct continuation of the last chapter, so you may want to go back and reread that one if you read it when it came out. Anyway, please enjoy :D

They have the footage shown to us on basically standard TV screens, which strikes me as odd at first-why not have it sent directly to our processors-but this makes it easier to take in the fight as a whole.

I'm able to see a lot of things about the others I never noticed in practice. I notice the way Snowden hangs back, refuses to take risks. I realize that Cady almost always watches Alec's back the best she can, making them a formidable team until Medusa separates them. I see how positively lethal Emefa is, battling her way out of some tight corners. And I notice Elliot

Elliot is honestly not a good fighter. I don't say that to be mean. He's a good guy and a good leader, but he just doesn't fly like the rest of us do.

By now I've realized that the footage shown to the public is highly edited. They switch call signs around on the ships so their star Combatants never look bad. My guess is that the one with the Ares sign is usually Alec, or occasionally Emefa or one of the others.

It's weird, watching my ship onscreen. It's strangely disconnected, so different from the way it feels when I'm flying it. I bite my lip with every mistake I see myself make, trying to will the pixels of the screen to show a version where I didn't screw up quite so much.

After the video ends, everyone splits off into pairs to discuss the battle. I find myself grabbed by Alec, who I've now discovered is more like the leader behind the scenes.

"Not bad for a first fight, Kaynes."

"I'd say it was pretty bad, personally," I retort.

He almost looks amused. "That's because you're you. And as far as I can see, you're used to being the best. Give it time before you try to take over CamCo, Skylar."

"I know," I grumble. "I just could've done so much better."

"You think every single one of us doesn't think that every time? Because trust me, I was one of the first ones here, and that feeling never goes away. Now, why don't you tell me what went well for you and what didn't?"

"I got myself backed up against a crap ton of space junk, mainly. I shouldn't have tried to pull back up, I could've kept going straight down a little longer."

"All right. What went well?"

"Ummm..." I struggle to think of anything in particular.

"Fine, I'll help you out. All of your evasions, the loops and the corkscrews, those were really good. They seemed much more fluid than most people's when we practice them. Does that come naturally?" I nod. "Huh. We'll have to figure out how that works, sometime. Ok, now you tell me what I did wrong."

I review the memory of the video in my neural processor. "When you did the really steep dive where Medusa followed you, you spiraled off to the right. I think you could've made it out of there if you had gone left. It looks to me like left turns were a little slower for her ship."

"Perfect. I wasn't sure you were going to catch that, but you're absolutely right. That model of aircraft is a little touchy for sharp lefts. Anything else?"

"Just that you're not too shabby at corkscrews and everything yourself."

He gives me a half-smile. "Why thank you. Anyway, that's about it for today, you can head back to class. Hope you'll be fighting with us again soon."

Everyone has begun straggling out the door, and as I leave, Elliot catches up with me in the hallway. It strikes me as odd, since I've barely talked to him since the chasing-Axle-through-halls incident, but still I drop back to match his pace.

"It's true then, Kaynes, you really are a natural," he says.

A strange mix of emotions catches me by surprise; excitement, because, come on, Elliot Ramirez is praising me, and annoyance, because I'm not nearly as good as everyone thinks I am. "Thanks, but it's not like I did anything that wonderful. I was one of the first ones taken out."

"By Medusa," he points out. "Do you know how long it took most of us to get to the level you're already at? Months, Skylar."

"But I made so many dumb mistakes."

"And I'm still making those dumb mistakes. You're going to be far better than I'll ever be."

"Hey, you're not that bad. You weren't the first one taken out." I almost laugh as I say it, because "consoling the head of CamCo" was not on the list of things I ever expected to do.

I'll try to get the next one up soon to make up for this one being ridiculously late. On a side note, I finally got Vortex, yay!

Hope you liked it, please review :)