General Davis awoke in his quarters, stirred by the pulsing beep emitting from his wrist. His eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He was aboard the newly commissioned VSD Savage. Wearily he rubbed his eyes and sat up, tapping his comlink.

‘General Davis...’ It was the voice of Lt. Commander Sizeman, ‘Sir, we’ve just received a priority one tasking message from Command. And sir, it’s from the Flight Officer with direct orders from the Fleet Admiral.’

Davis rose to his feet abruptly, ‘A tasking message!? Put it through to my quarters immediately.’ He rubbed his eyes again and approached the holoviewer on the far wall. It lit up and he was presented with the image of Vice Admiral Sarriss.

‘General Davis.. Effective immediately your battlegroup tasking and standing orders are changed to Recon.’

Davis blinked, ‘Sir? We’ve got a crew of green recruits from Platform Daedalus, they’ve not been cleared for mission assignment.’

Sarriss frowned, ‘I’m fully aware of the status of your ships and crew, General. As of this moment, they are cleared for temporary duty. Get the captain of the Cain and your Wing Commander to your ready room for briefing.’

Davis could only nod, “Yes sir. I’ll have them assembled in 15 minutes.’ Sarriss merely nodded and the screen went blank.

General Davis straightened his uniform as he slid into the head chair in his ready room. Moments later the door swished open and Major Thomas of the TIE Corps, and acting Wing Commander aboard the VSD Savage stepped in. Major Ming and Lt. Commander Sizeman followed him, both of the Naval Corps. Ming was the acting Captain of the Carrack Cruiser Cain; Sizeman was the appointed First Officer of the Savage.

It was Sizeman who spoke first as the door slide shut behind him. ‘General, Vice Admiral Sarriss is standing by.’

Davis nodded and tapped the button bringing up a full 3D holo of the Flight Officer.

‘Greetings Gentleman, no doubt you have been made aware of your sudden change in tasking.’ Said Sarriss as the entering officers took their seats.

The Vice Admiral continued as the holo changed to a starmap, ‘This is the Hyperion system. Hyperion is mostly barren, we have a small detachment of the Katana fleet in the sector along with Deep Space listening port Kobol 12.’

The holo image closed on the listening post before changing again to a computer generated image of the post, rotating around then changing once more to a picture of a strange vessel. ‘One hour ago, we received this picture from the listening post, followed immediately by a message from the ships stationed there, stating they had encountered an unknown vessel, presumably this one. After that we lost our feed from the listening post and all contact with the ships.’

General Davis spoke up then, ‘But why send a crew of cadets into a possible battle zone?’

Sarriss continued, ‘There are a number of factors here General, first, your ships are the closest available ships to the Hyperion system, and second, we have checked all known records and cannot identify that vessels origin. We wish to try and intercept it before it can get away, or cause more damage. The ISD Challenge and her task force are already enroute to Hyperion with an ETA of 3 days. If we wait, we may lose any chance of even finding a vector of that ship.’

Davis nodded, while the rest of the officers before him sat in silence, listening intently to the briefing.

Sarriss spoke again, ‘Your group is to set an immediate course for Hyperion and run a full recon and sensor sweep of the sector. Any and all findings are to be reported to command immediately.’

Once again Davis nodded, ‘We can be underway and in Hyperion within two hours, sir.’

Sarriss smiled, ‘Good. While this is recon tasking, due to the unknown nature of the vessel, defensive rules of engagement are in effect.’

Davis shifts his gaze to Major Thomas.

Thomas looked to the holo image and spoke, ‘The ships on the training wing are currently rigged for mock combat maneuvers, we can have them reset for active duty by the time we reach Hyperion.’

Davis replied promptly, ‘Do so.’ And turned his attention back to the holo as Sarriss spoke again, ‘Very well. I’ll expect a preliminary report in two hours then.’ And the holo faded to the imperial insignia.

Davis stepped out onto the bridge in time to see the Lambda Shuttle carrying Major Ming back to the Cain.

After the briefing the officers returned to their stations to prep their personnel. Lt. Commander Sizeman, seeing Davis enter, rose swiftly to his feet, “Captain on the bridge!”

All other personnel rose then and General Davis murmured a simple, “At ease.” As he approached Sizeman, “Report Commander.”

Sizeman tapped a few buttons on a datapad and handed it to Davis, “Major Thomas is briefing the squadrons now. The Savage has a course plotted and ready to embark.”

Davis nodded, “Good.. Once Ming is back aboard the Cain and they are ready, proceed with the mission and jump to Hyperion.. I’ll be in my ready room.”

Sizeman nodded and took the datapad back as Davis left the bridge.

Major Thomas paced around the pilot briefing room as his pilots assembled. Through his peripheral he looks at them, all young, all trained and talented, but all very green. Most of these pilots have never fired live fighter weapons, much less engaged in open combat. He frowned and glanced over his datapad, looking at the numbers. This made him frown deeper. 12 TIE Advanced, 3 Assault Gunboats, 3 Missile Boats and 4 TIE Defenders. Two squadrons. Barely enough for an effective fighter screen. He stifled a sigh, no need to get the cadets worried.

As the final few seated themselves he stopped his pacing and turned to face them, “Good Morning Cadets.. Today is a special day for you all, for it is what the TIE Corps likes to refer to as a Trial by Fire.”

Seemingly all at once, a look of confusion crossed over the faces of the assembled cadets and the Major continued, “What this means is that over the next few days, you will be flying in unsecured space. While we don’t expect any hostile activity, your starfighter weapons have been reset with their firing codes. Your ships are live now ladies and gentleman, friendly fire becomes a real concern now, but I have faith that you all will excel wonderfully.’

The Major pressed a button and the holoscreen lit up with a focused starmap of Hyperion. “We’ll be coming out of hyperspace here, in the Hyperion system. Hyperion is home to Kobol 12, a deep space listening post that the fleet has recently lost contact with.”

Thomas looked over the crew, “Flights 1, 2 and 3 will be assembled as the Wraith Squadron, and flights 4, 5, and 6 will be known Ghoul Squadron. Cadet Silsti, you’ll fly lead for Wraith, and Cadet Robinson will fly lead for Ghoul.’

The Major motioned to the map again, “We’ll drop out of Hyperspace here. Ghoul squad will launch immediately and begin a close support patrol near the Savage and Cain. Once preliminary scans are complete, Wraith will launch and fly to the last known position of Kobol 12. Anything abnormal is to be immediately reported. Orders from Command have put us under Defensive rules of engagement. Any questions?”

Cadet Silsti raised his hand, “Are there any known hostiles in the sector or nearby sir?”

The Major smiled, “Good question cadet, but no, there are no known hostiles within several light-years of the operation system.” It was a good question, shows concern for readiness.

Another cadet raised his hand, “When was the last communication with Kobol 12, and is there any crew on board?”

Another good question, perhaps this won’t be so terrible after all. Thomas nodded, “Last communication from Kobol 12 was almost three hours ago, and the post was manned by two maintenance and monitoring crew.”

The pilot nodded and Thomas looked around, no more question. “Okay cadets. This is the chance to shine for the Corps. Get to your fighters and be at launch ready. We will be watching, and may the force be with you. Dismissed.”

The pilots all rose, except Silsti, who was making some last minute notes on a datapad.

“Is there a problem Cadet?”

Silsti looked up and rose from his seat, “Sir, if I may be frank? The Hyperion system is in the fringe, and near controlling boundaries, why is Command sending a handful of Cadets into a live zone for training?”

Thomas frowned, “Cadet, our tasking has been changed from Training to Recon. Anything I’ve not explained is classified beyond your security clearance. Don’t question command, follow them, understood?”

Cadet Silsti stood there a moment, staring at Thomas. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard, not a training mission? What the hell was really going on? “Sir, Yes Sir!” he replied, turning on his heels and leaving the briefing room. He headed straight for the flight bay and began the external check of his TIE Defender. They drew straws before embarking on the excersise, and he suddenly felt extraordinarily lucky to have gotten a Defender.

Silsti had felt the Savage lurch sharply as it left hyperspace. He stood there outside his TIE with his flight helmet under his arm as the massive durasteel baydoors slide open. He stared at the vast open space beyond the force shield that was the barrier between it and him. He watched as the 8 TIE Advanced and 3 Gunboats that made up Ghoul Squad launched before putting on his helmet and sliding into the cockpit of his Defender. He grabbed the flight stick with his right hand and flipped a few switched. The cockpit lit up and inside his helmet the virtual HUD showed him the various statuses of components. He felt the Ion engines power up and hum to life behind him. He became aware of his racing heart. Anticipation of his first live flight. Sure, he’d flown before, simulators and training missions in secured space using simulated weapons firing. But this! This was the real thing. He’d heard Cadet Robinson state that the sector was cleared and they were moving into patrol pattern. Silsti flipped several more switches, arming weapons, setting the engines into the flight position.

‘Wraith One, all systems green, engines ready and shields on standby.’ He said, the message being relayed to the rest of his flight, but also heard by the comms officer and hanger crew. He then heard the similar messages repeated by the rest of his Squadron. There was a bump and his ship began to move as the loading belt transported his ship towards the launch bay.

“Wraith One, this is the Deck Officer, your docking clamps have been disengaged. Move into position and launch when ready.”

Silsti inched the throttle forward lightly moving into launch position. He flipped another set of switches bringing the shields fully online and removing the safeties from his weapons. As finished its turn, now facing the open bay doors, Silsti slid the throttle smoothly into its fully open position. The G force from the sudden acceleration sent him deep into his flight seat, he loved the feeling. Some of the force was gone the moment he passed through the force shield and left the artificial gravity of the Savage. He slid the throttle back and slowed into cruising speed while he waiting for the rest of his squadron to launch. As his units formed up he glanced over each instrument again to make sure everything was in order. Tapping his console, he spoke on his squadron frequency, “Okay fellas.. Follow me, and keep it tight, we want to look good for the brass.” He manipulated the flight stick and turned his craft and headed towards the coordinates of Kobol 12.

Everything was going smooth. He could see the training group and Ghoul squad far behind him on his radar, a good 10 klicks away. But still no sign of the listening post. “Flights 2 and 3, fan out to maximum scan range, lets find this thing and check it out.”

The ships broke off and spread out, and it wasn’t maybe two minutes later when he heard, “One, this is Five, I think I found the post, or whats left of it.”

Silsti turned his ship towards Wraith Five, and said into his com, “Wraith Squad, converge on Five’s location.”

As he approached, he could see why it didn’t appear on radar. There was little left of it, but floating debris. “Uhh.. Savage, this is Wraith One. We have located the…remains of Kobol 12. Transmitting Coordinates.”

The VSD Comm officer replied, “Acknowledged Wraith One, any signs of vessels or remains of them.”

What the hell does that mean, Silsti thought, “Negative Savage, this debris appears to all have been part of the listening post, and no signs of escape pods.”

“Acknowledged Wraith One, Take up patrol with Ghoul squad.”

Silsti turned his ship once more, “Your heard the man, lets go join the patrol.”

It was about that time that he saw the huge silver vessel come out of hyperspace right next to the capital ships. It was sleek and shiny, like nothing he’d ever seen before.

On the radar he saw Ghoul squad turn and close on the ship and he shoved his own throttle into full power. As he and his squad closed on his capital ships, he saw the laser flashes from Ghoul Squadron, and heard the Wing Commander shouting over the com, “Ghoul Squad, seize fire and stand dow...holy!” The ship let out a single blue beam that seemed to incinerate Ghoul squad entirely. Silsti couldn’t believe it. A whole squad annihilated with a single laser burst. Then he saw the next, a bright orange bolt from the huge ship and everything went black.

General Davis stood on the bridge of the Victory Star Destroyer Savage. He’d heard Major Thomas shouting into a com but he didn’t hear the words. He was standing there in awe of the huge ship filling his viewport when he saw the blue laser fire from the ship and Ghoul Squadron was destroyed before his eyes. The he saw the ship powering up for another shot and his knees went weak. He started to pray when the orange blast went through the ship and everything went spinning…then black.

Davis’ head was pounding. That could only mean he was alive.

Slowly he opened his eyes and realized he was in the familiar surrounding of the bridge of the Savage. He summoned his strength and pushed up to his feet. He could see the rest of the crew, most of them coming to as well. He moved to his chair and sat down in it, staring out the viewport silently.

Once his crew was awake and somewhat recomposed, he spoke. “Damage report.”

“Uhh.. None sir.. The engines, weapons and shields are offline but there is no structural damage.”

Davis arched a brow, “What the hell just happened, how long have we been out? Whats the status of Wrath and Ghoul Squads?” his voice carried a sense of urgency to it.

The sensor officer was the first to respond, “Wraith Squadron is in the same condition as us.”

The com officer was next, “I’m trying to raise them now, sir.”

Davis responded, “Try to bring all systems online.”

A voice responded, “Systems ARE coming on line sir.”

Another voice said, “Wraith Squadron has revived and brought their engines online, they are returning to their patrol.”

“Very good.” Replied Davis, “Tell them to maintain a tight close support form. Whats the status of the Cain.”

There was no response and Davis rose to his feet and headed over to the operations station where both the Coms officer and Sensor officer just stared at their terminals. “REPORT!” He demanded.

“The Cain…it’s…gone sir.”

Then the sensor officer spoke again, “And sir…we uh…we’re not in Hyperion anymore.”

Davis actually blinked, “Where the hell are we?”

“I...uh…I don’t know sir…I cannot get any positional information from subspace.”

Davis turned and walked to the viewport, staring out. In the distance he saw a dim red star. Definitely not Hyperion, that system has a yellow star. “Com, send a message to Command and alert them of the situation.”

“Aye sir.” Came the immediate reply.

Without another word, Davis stalked off the bridge to his ready room.

Cadet Silsti pulled back on the throttle and the TIE Defender responded by decreasing speed. He leveled his fighter at bridge level of the VSD Savage. Looking left, he could see inside the bridge and he wondered. His chronometer display on the HUD showed 22:14. They had been out, ten, perhaps fifteen minutes before regaining consciousness, but that couldn’t be right. He knew his proximity of the Hyperion star, the heat, the bright light it provided. As he looked out over the surface that made up the hull of the Savage, he could see the Red Dwarf in the distance. There’s no way they could have moved several systems away in that little time. He thought about the unknown ship with the super lasers. Ghoul squad, their cadet pilots, just, gone. The General called for com silence for all traffic exception priority communication. That meant no questions, and they didn’t bother to offer or even acknowledge the fact they weren’t in Hyperion. Silsti glanced at his console and checked his radar before looking out over the surface of the Savage once more, his flight escorted the Savage on the right, and on the left side he could see the four TIE Advanced that made up Flight 3. Below the VSD three Missile Boats flew in formation with the capital ship. Eleven starfighters and a small Destroyer in the middle of nowhere, alone. He took a deep breath through his support mask and pushed forward lightly on his flightstick. The TIE dropped level with the main hull of the Savage and Silsti checked all his instruments again.

As his mind began to drift again, the chirp of his radar brought his sense about him. Glancing down he saw the location of the target and shifted his gaze out of one of the side viewports. In the distance he saw the Corellian Corvette drop out of hyperspace. Flight 3 zipped by overhead, their engines screaming as they shot past, and at the same time several more contacts chirped on the radar. X-wings! Seeing the T/As on an intercept vector, Silsti pushed his foot down on the right pedal and followed through with his yoke. This resulted in the Defender cutting down and breaking right moving into a flanking vector.

“Flight One, Initiate Talon maneuver, Flight Two, keep your distance, and remember boys, our ROE is defensive!”

Things were taking a turn for the even worse, and then Silsti heard his com crackle, “Wraith squad, fire freely, but primary goals are to disable and salvage those vessels.”

“You heard the man, Flight Two, engage with Ion torpedoes. Three, draw fire off us from that Corvette, One, follow me and take them down.” Silsti said into his mic, sending his TIE into a drop roll, coming out behind one of the X-Wing Escorts. Quickly, he dropped down to attack speed. Red lasers flashed around him as he fired at the rear of the snub taking out its shields. He snapped a switch on the grip of his yoke and fired twice more, this time disabling the ship with two well place ion bursts. He cut right and pushed his ship into a dive as he scanned for his next target.

The starfighter threat indicator lit up and he switched his target to his pursuer. The X-wing behind him opened fire, and his shields flashed as he took a hit from the rear. Slamming his foot down on the left pedal, and pulling back on the throttle, he initiated a drop speed roll maneuver, bringing his weapons to bear on the X-wing as it shot past him.

Breaking right, and pulling up, the X-wing went into a steep climb as the TIE Defender rolled around behind it. The TIE began to fire and red lasers dropped the shields in seconds. Before the pilot could react, his systems and R2 droid were shutdown and disabled, the TIE screaming past the cockpit in search of the next target.

“Two for one sale on X-wings.” Silsti said over the com, happy with himself. “Flight Two, focus on bringing down the shields of that Corvette.” He snapped off in chase of another X-wing. A small escort, but formidable enough considering. He made short work of the next snub as the rest of his flight took out the remaining resistance.

He rolled around again, bringing his cannons to bear on the Corvette. The shields were down and it needed to be disabled. He dove in full throttle, as he made a beeline towards the larger ship. Each time his lasers passed across the hull, he fired his ions. Finally, sensors showed the ship as disabled, and he broke off from the dive, in search of further targets.

The Comm officer of the Savage could be heard. “Good work Wraith squad. Flight one, return to the Savage. Two and Three remain on close patrol.”

“Wraith 1, acknowledging.” Replied Silsti.

Davis stood in his ready room, staring out of the large viewport into the open expanse of space. The red dwarf cast its dull glow across the hull of the VSD Savage. Navigation was providing few answers as to their location and the Comm Officer has failed in reaching command.

He watched as a pair of TIE Defenders glided past the viewport. The cadets haven’t been given any information regarding the apparent displacement of the training group, but they’ve been out there for hours and most certainly they have questions.

He was about to turn away when the Corvette dropped out of hyperspace in the distance. He’d barely time to note the arrival of its escorts and react before the fighter squad broke off to intercept.

Davis snapped his fingers and hit the activator for the nearest com. “General Davis here. Order that squad to engage. I want them to disable as many of those ships as possible for capture.”

“Aye sir.” Came the simple reply and the com cut off.

Davis returned to his chair and faced the open viewport, watching the fight begin. He hit the com once more, “Commander, order the helm to close and maintain a standoff position with that corvette. Lay down suppression fire for our boys.”

There was just another simple ‘Aye’ and a moment later the massive ship began its slow turn.

Using the electronic advancement of the viewport, the General enhanced the view for an observation of the cadet’s tactics. Mostly he was concerned about losing his fresh pilots.

Flashes of exchanged laser fire between starfighters, and heavy turbolaser fire coming from the corvettes flashed in the black expanse of space. He watched as the first three X-wings were brought down.

“Perhaps these pilots won’t turn out so bad.” He thought to himself. A good two minutes passed while the Defenders neutralized the enemy fighters.

The Missile Boats, and fire from the Savage brought down the shields of the smaller capital ship and a pair of the T/D dropped into a dive towards the Corvette ion cannons cranking continuously. He could see the laser turrets rotating around, trying to get a track lock on the highly advanced starfighters. They kept pounding and just as the turrets were finishing their rotations, the ship was overcome in an ion flash, losing primary facilities.

Davis smiled, he hadn’t expected a handful of green cadets to take down a Corvette and escort so quickly. “I’ve underestimated the standards of the Hammer recruiters.” He thought to himself.

He rose to his feet and left the ready room, heading out to the bridge.

Cadet Silsti pulled back on his throttle, bring his ship to an idle inside the Savage hanger. He saw the shadow of the docking bar drift overhead and then felt the familiar thump of the clamps engaging. The red docking light lit up, casting a dull glow in the cockpit offset by the other various illuminations.

He began his shutdown procedures, re-engaging weapon safeties and listening to the hum of the ion engines behind him fade into silence as they go offline.

He smiles, proud of himself and his squad for pulling off the near impossible. He’s still smiling as he shuts down the primary and auxiliary power switches and opens the main hatch, climbing out onto the surface of the hanger bay.

The bay is bustling with activity as per the usual routine on an otherwise unusual trip. He can see the rest of his flight shutting down their ships and through the hanger doors he can see the approaching transport carrying one of the captured X-wings. Several squads of troopers stand ready closeby, probably waiting to deal with the pilots of the captured starfighters.

Once the rest of his flight is assembled, they all head to the briefing room for procedural debriefing and mission analysis.

The briefing room is in its usual empty state, holding enough seats for a wing of pilots plus observers. MAJ Thomas is there, waiting for the four crew of Flight One to take a seat.

“Okay.. Settle down fellas..” Calls Thomas, “You boys performed well, both the Captain and myself are very pleased with your actions out there today. You have proven your fit for active duty as well put a shining light on your trainers at Daedalus…”

Major Thomas trailed off as the doors open and General Davis steps through. Each of the officers present rose for the General.

Davis looked to the pilots and then Thomas, “At ease men.” He says, stopping near Thomas. “You guys have done an exceptional job, I observed your progress on the viewscreen.”

The pilots looked to each other briefly before returning their attention to the General.

“Now then..” Davis continued, “We captured Six X-wings and a Corvette which we will turn over to Command when we get back to Aurora. But in the meantime, they are going to be re-outfitted and re-armed for immediate service. While you were out on your patrol, Major Thomas and I recruited Six pilots to fly the captured equipment and we’ve also assembled a small bridge and gun crew for the Corvette, once we’ve gotten all the Rebel personnel off of it. Once we get the X-wings ready, we’ll send them out to cover patrol for your squad giving you a Five hour downtime.”

The pilots frowned, Five hours is barely enough time for minimal sleep.

Davis paused briefly then continued without a hitch, “During your downtime, you’ll be on full ready alert. Your squad’s ships will be prepared and held for launch should we receive any more visitors. Now then.. The Navigation staff has tracked our current position down to a few parsecs of accuracy and has discovered that we are outside of explored space. This means that our NavComs cannot calculate an effective course so they are doing it the old fashioned way. This takes time and it’s currently an undetermined time.”

Davis began to pace slowly in front of the pilots, “I realize that this is not standard procedure, but we are far away from standard procedure at the moment. If we get the needed calculations, you won’t awakened for your escort and patrol until we arrive in Aurora.” He looks to Thomas, “That’s all I have at the moment.”

As Davis leaves the room, Thomas says, “Thank you General.” And looks to the pilots, “Okay boys, you heard him.. Go bunk up and get some sleep… Wear as much of your flight uniform as possible for comfort, it’ll take off time from your readiness should you be called upon before your next flight. Sleep well pilots, and your actions have not, and will not go unnoticed.. Dismissed.”

The pilots of Flight One gathered their things and headed to their barracks.

Claxons reverberated through the barracks waking the squadron up, alerting a scramble.. Silsti swung his legs over the side of his bunk, his feet resting on the floor. He glanced at his chronometer, ‘Almost four hours sleep.’ He thought to himself.

It took him and his crew little time to suit up and get to their waiting ships.

Silsti sealed the hatch on his Defender. The deck crew had already powered it up at the first sound of the alert.

Strapping himself in, Silsti brought the engines online and signalled his readiness. When the docking light went off, he disengaged the weapon safeties and pushed his throttle forward.

The TIE Defender dove and shot out of the Savage’s bay. Silsti first saw the X-wings in a battle with several small silver craft. He’d never seen ships like those.

One of the liberated X-wings exploded as he closed on the skirmish, the rest of his squadron falling in around him and he locked on to the nearest hostile.

Cadet Silsti leveled his ship behind one of the bogeys. As the ship passed over his targeting crosshairs, he opened fire. Red flashes from the laser lit up the ship, sending small energy waves over the enemy ships shields.

Silsti kept on his prey, firing in rapid succession. The alien ship lost its shields but it was taking an awful lot of power to punch through its hull.

The Alien ship in front of him slowed slightly, probably an attempt to lose its pursuer. Silsti kept on though sending barrage after barrage of laser fire into the enemy. Finally he could see the hull cracking, and giving way. Silsti pressed on at full power, his lasers tearing through the hull.

The Alien ship exploded sending a bright green shockwave out towards other ships.

Silsti saw the ship explode, and the flash of green flying at him. Everything slowed down. He watched as his ship slowly vanished around him, disintegrating. He felt his skin get hot and saw his squadron explode before his eyes. His head hurt. The pain.. It felt as though it lasted forever. His flesh began to bubble and char.

Everything went black…

**********

Cadet Silsti shot straight up in his bunk, covered in a thin sheen of sweat. His head was pounding but he squinted and took a look around. Barracks for 24. Oh his head hurt. He lay back down on the pillow and looked to the bottom of the bunk above him. There he saw the one picture he kept. Of a woman he met on Carrida. He knew then where he was. He was on PLT Daedalus. But how?

He massaged his temples as he sat up again, resting his feet on the ground.

‘Must have been a dream.’ He thought to himself, ‘But it certainly seemed real, felt real.’ He took a deep breath, still shaken from his dream, but he reached over to look at his chronometer. Three more hours until graduation, then there will be real action.