"Alright, so we'll check this jungle then?" Jim confirmed as he zoomed in on the tablet. He knew it was the correct spot, but he was doing his best to leave it to his partner's decision.

"Yes. That's where we'll be searching." Snotlout declared confidently. He zoomed back out, then frowned. "Unless," He flicked through the photos again, his earlier certainty gone. "I still think this desert looks suspicious. Look at all those rocks. They could hide anything!"

Matt and his partner had taken a lot of very good photos. They had identified several locations that could be possible bases of operation, though upon assessment, the boys agreed they were simply native inhabitants that were beginning to make advancements. He let out a long sigh as Snotlout went through all the pictures yet again.

"Okay, look at this one," the older boy held out the tablet to Jim as he spoke. "See the way that things change abruptly here?"

"I do," Jim agreed, "But I still think that it's the result of a fire. Look at all the burnt remnants of the forest."

"A fire started by machinery!" Snotlout cried triumphantly. "We started a fire in our first engine totally on accident, I know they can happen!"

"Well, yes, they can," Jim allowed reluctantly. "I just don't think that the teachers would make the program have such an obvious tell. I think it's a decoy."

Snotlout frowned as he considered the possibility. "You might be right." He fell silent and went back to mulling over the pictures by himself again. Finally he stood up, his tablet hitting the table with more force than was probably healthy as he planted his hands on top of it. "I have decided! We shall explore the jungle in approximately this location."

Jim glanced at the picture on Snotlout's screen to confirm it was the one they'd originally agreed on. "Sounds good to me. I'll follow your lead."

The two boys claimed an unused simulation pod. The controls were configured differently today. Jim slid his goggles on and took the back seat. Snotlout settled into the pilot's position. He reached up and drew the top down into place. The pod lit up as the simulation began.

"Looks like a spy vestle," Snotlout murmured mostly to himself. "Uh, cloaking controls, that's good, glider mode, targeting deflection, thermal shield, looks like I should just turn it all on?"

"Why don't we get into position first. We'll turn it on after we've entered the atmosphere." Jim suggested as he scanned his own controls. "It'll be less strain on the engines."

"Good plan." Snotlout activated thrust. The small ship shot forward above the planetary body. Jim was the first to spot their target, but he let the older boy point it out. He still didn't know how much Mrs Parr would consider to be outside knowledge or what she'd consider to be reasonable within the information he was supposed to have.

"Let's enter here," Jim suggested as they neared the base. "That'll give us time to turn on our cloaking. We don't know what level of technology they have, so we need to be cautious. I'd say keep everything on and kill the engines maybe sixteen kilometers before the base? We'll glide past and see what we can't observe. Take it from there?"

Snotlout shoved the tiller forward without warning. "Good plan!" He declared as their ship hurled for the atmosphere.

Jim was beginning to understand how Sy had felt. As thrilling as this was, a bit of a heads up would have been pleasant.

Planetary gravity took hold and slammed him against the seat restraints. Snotlout cheered as they broke through a cloud. He leveled them out and began flicking switches and pulling levers. The hum of the engine died from the background leaving the cabin in silence. Jim closed his eyes to just enjoy the peace of drifting.

All too soon Snotlout's voice drew him from the quiet. "Are we getting pictures or anything?"

"I don't know, we weren't told." Jim checked the cabin around him. "I have the equipment for pictures. Let's go ahead and take some. Can't hurt to do a little extra. We're supposed to gather as much data as we can, right?"

Snotlout beamed. "Yeah!" He guided the gliding craft carefully towards the oppositional base. They drifted by slowly. Jim focused on taking as many pictures as he possibly could. Snotlout monitored and logged the data outputs on the various scenes before him.

Once their craft had drifted another 16 kilometers past the base Snotlout turned the engine back on, though only for long enough to turn around and gain a bit more height again. Shifting back to gliding mode they coasted by for another pass.

On their fourth pass Jim finally nodded. "I think we got everything we're going to get. Let's head back up out of the planet and exit the program."

"You got it!" Snotlout flicked on the engines once more and aimed his craft up towards the sky. They rocketed forward and shot up through the atmosphere. Snotlout turned off the various cloaking controls as they broke through the clouds and into the upper limits of the world.

Jim relaxed as the artificial gravity released. Snotlout typed in the code to end their program. The lights and readings faded away. Jim popped the top open and removed his goggles. "Alright. I'll check in with the teacher about the next steps, you want to start looking over the data we got?"

"You got it!" Snotlout leaped out of their simulation pod and trotted over to where they had left their tablets. Jim made his way to the front of the room.

Mrs Parr was waiting for her student. "Do you feel you got enough information?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You and your partner may spend the rest of class analyzing the information you brought back and formulating a plan for infiltration. Submit your plan before the start of next class."

"Thank you, ma'am." Jim turned and jogged his way back to Snotlout. The rest of class would be easy.