Nick delicately placed the cup of coffee on the table in front of us.

“Prepared step-by-step, with every step triple-checked to perfection,” he said. “Just the way you described your perfect drink.”

The only reaction I could give my companion was a laugh. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, awaiting an explanation.

“You could’ve just gotten a regular coffee at the cafeteria’s station. I feel bad for wasting your skill and effort on a little drink.”

“I promised you last year that I would do more to help you this year. You taught me the importance of promises, yet you contradict yourself now.”

I realized very well where this conversation was going. I reached for the cup and sipped the drink Nick had prepared for me. Truth be told, it was probably the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. Not a big statement for someone who hasn’t drunk coffee for more than a yearly cycle, but we could probably make a fortune selling this preparation process to management.

“You raised the bar pretty high, then. It was just a small promise!”

“Is my display of friendship trivial to you?”

Nick leaned forward on his bunk bed, pushing his arms together. His ever-neutral blue eyes scanned me, ever-unsuccessful in reading body language.

“Nah, buddy. I’m just glad to sit here with you again. It’s been a while.”

I extended a hand and he shook it. He grinned- a grin he reserved only for his close friends, and one I never ceased to enjoy seeing. However, the moment of reminiscence was short, as his smile quickly faded back into its default expression.

“New subject. I overheard the sarges talking lately. Apparently, we’ve got an introductory sparring session in about seventeen minutes, Vincent dude.”

“I see. We should leave a correct impression of ourselves. If we do well, we’ll have a nice story to tell Caenya afterwards.”

My mind pieced together Caenya’s pretty face. Last year, when I arrived for my first year at the TSFF Military Academy, it was with her that I shared the long trip all the way from Celestis, our homeworld. It was just before we left that we both lost our parents to revolting rebels, and it was together that we managed to brave the storm of devastation that followed.

My parents were both soldiers in the TSFF- the Trans-Stellar Federation Force. They fought for peace across the universe and fought to their deaths. The event left me bitter, and made me realize that my ignorant way of life would only let more events like this happen.

Now, I and my friend Nick here were known as the guys who second-guessed everything. His reasons for doing so were very different from mine, but in the end we were just two fourteen year olds, known by our fellow recruits as the Creep Detectives. We earned that title since we spent most of the time observing others without involving ourselves. Once, a fellow ridiculed us for our “hard words” and “hard faces” as the result of a few glances shot their way.

It was funny, and it was one of the only times Nick actually laughed, which he did only very, very rarely. Seeing him laugh didn’t just make me happy as a friend, it made me content knowing that I understood him so well.

Together, Nick, Caenya and I, Vincent, formed our own group, and we always had things to discuss. I looked at Nick while in thought. We were very alike indeed, including appearance. We both had blue eyes and black hair, though Nick’s eyes were sharper and his hair shorter. My own hair was just long enough to cover my left eye, the way I preferred it.

“More stories to tell. I sense that you’re restarting your contest?”

“Fantastic observation. This time, we’ll have more to tell than she has!”

Caenya chose not to join the Academy for her own personal reasons. Though this planet, Phargos-II, was a dedicated military training planet of the Federation, there were still small cities scattered around the various facilities. Caenya lived in one such city, oftentimes helping TSFF law enforcement out to debatable results. She liked calling herself a vigilante, which apparently bolstered her resolve.

Caenya was kind, and always saw the best in people. I didn’t understand why she didn’t join the academy, or was fine with living a lone life, but I would come to know that one day.

For the same reason I was intent on knowing everything one day.

“Alright, recruits!” 

We both perked up. Nick dropped the pen he was using to write on his digital log, and I stood up and put my arms to my hips. The newcomer was our assigned drill sergeant, Jeddle.

For a sarge, my first impressions were that her voice was rather soft, oddly compassionate. I didn’t trust her demeanour much. My guard was up, and my senses stood alert. 

Our sarges were both the teachers and mentors of the Academy, training the next young generation to fight for the Federation’s ideals of unity.

“Vincent Harrower, Nick Dorger, meet at simulator eight in ten minutes! You’re heading in for a game of-”

“Capture the Flag. We are aware.”

“Huh.”

Nick’s expression remained perfectly calm as the sergeant inspected him. I was annoyed by the fact that her eyes were unreadable behind the tactical visor of her combat helmet. Meanwhile, Nick slowly rose to salute.

“We’ll get ready, ma’am!”

“And put on your uniforms, slackers! The only clothes you’ll need!”

She was right. The TSFF standard uniform was hygienic, self-cleaning, and extremely comfortable. The simple short-sleeved shirt and pants combined with the Force’s shielding technology allowed you to wear it basically anytime, since the shields somehow isolated temperatures to keep them perfect at all times. Short-sleeved shirts in outer space, short-sleeved shirts in arctic ice storms, short-sleeved shirts while bathing in a supernova’s warmth.

Maybe not the last one.

As the odd sergeant left the room, we changed out of the clothes we cherished back from our homeworlds, into the clothes of a soldier. The clothes of a TSFF marine, a peacekeeper.

 

And so, we left our quarters and marched through the halls of the grand facility. The walls were alight with potentium, the mystical alloy that powered almost all technology, shining a warm blue. Every part of the floor, the walls and the ceiling were glowing. Coming from a rural jungle planet and used to living in primitive wooden structures, I was still amazed despite having lived here for a full year now.

“Vincent. Something is odd about that boy- he takes theoretics with us.”

Nick gestured and indeed, his observation instantly caught my eye. Among the many fellow students that patrolled the halls for this year’s first tasks, he stood out. I took two seconds to formulate my thoughts.

“That way he walks is rather feminine, but in a suppressed way.”

“How do you define feminine? I was mostly captivated by the hair. It seems overdone, as if way too much effort was put into it.”

“Like cups of coffee.”

“Huh?”

“Referring to what I said earlier about effort.”

“I see. You’re making coffee a metaphor for overdoing things, then.”

“Indeed, remember that!”

Nick found some normal Pyuntian concepts hard to understand, and we discovered that metaphors and ways to remember things helped him out greatly. He was mostly the observer, the one who saw all details- I was the one who took the conclusions and lined the possibilities.

“Back to the point, Nick. I think that girl is making an effort to look like a boy. Feminine is only a concept once one starts to be self-conscious about it.”

We walked further down the hallways until we realized that the only ones around us were that peculiar girl, plus a boy our age. They stopped at the same door we were supposed to enter. As the footsteps of Nick and I became the only audible distraction in the room, the two looked our way, their expressions changing to greet us.

The boy, with an athletic build and army-short hair, unleashed an enthusiastic grin as he extended a hand to us. His uniform was the default dark-light blue color scheme.

“Hey, dudes! Seems like we’re gettin’ to fight. Call me Bardo!”

“Heya! We won’t lose! I’m Lenn, but my friends call me Torch, so get with that if you want to get along.”

The girl joined her partner and mimicked his gesture of extending a hand. She had a toothy, fiery grin, and her eyes were amber, glowing with ambition, like a torch. Her hair was like we spotted- messy and spiky. She had customized her uniform with more teal coloring.

It was not unusual for recruits and trained marines to sport nicknames instead of their regular names. Most adopted one by the time they left the Academy. I myself preferred my given name, Vincent. Putting on what I called my social face, I shot them my finger guns, my flashiest smile, and I took their hands.

“Name’s Vincent. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Nick was next to greet the pair, and he did so in his trademark style.

“Are you a girl or a boy?”

By asking what was on his mind.

Torch’s cheerful face instantly contracted to become one of utter confusion, as if she was unsure of what face she was supposed to wear.

“Wha-?”

“What kind of question is that? Are you trying to be funny?!”

Bardo finished Torch’s sentence for her and walked up to Nick. He obviously attempted to look intimidating, but Nick was not only a head taller than anyone else, he was also undaunted by everything. When Nick did things like that, I liked to watch how things played out until I needed to support him. Nick answered the boy in style.

“Well, it is obvious that considerable effort has been put into your appearance, Torch gal. We came to the concl-”

“D-Don’t call me that! What is wrong with you?!”

“In what perspective would you make such a statement? If we are talking physical abnormalities, I would say Bardo dude here-”

“Cut it, please, people.”

We all turned to face sergeant Jeddle.

“Ma’am, what’s with this weird-”

“Cut it!”

For some reason, those two words had chills running down my spine, even when they weren’t directed at me. I made a mental note to be extra cautious about our enigmatic sergeant. Meanwhile, I was making some actual notes on our new acquaintances as well. I briefly closed my eyes and opened my neural hud, quickly selecting an application that allowed me to note things down. I praised the TSFF for their genetic technology and revolutionary invention of the neural hud.

“Now what are all you brats standing there for? Get the fuck in there!”

I always wondered how an impersonal, harsh attitude could ever improve education. Nevertheless, I was the first to reply.

“Yes ma’am!”

And thus, we entered the simulator room. In contrast to the bright, warm hallways, this room was lit in a dark blue. The simulator pods were lined next to each other, and we promptly entered them. I didn’t like entering the virtual world, since it oftentimes got me off-balance, but it was a simply fascinating piece of technology.

“Good luck, Vincent,” Nick told me from his pod.

“Let’s show the world what we can do,” I answered.

Colors swirled and converged again, all while the world faded.