I grabbed my bag and sent it into my storage bracelet. It wasn’t the largest space available—what need did a princess have for spatial storage, anyway? At least, that’s what my father told me the one time I asked for a bigger space. Nevertheless, it was a quality piece with a shapeshifting enchantment so it could match any outfit I wore.
Next came the difficult part—escaping the palace. I opened the door to my suite and smiled at the guard outside.
“Headed to the gardens, your highness?” she asked.
I had been going to the gardens around the same time almost every day for cycles to build a habit and lure everyone in the palace into a sense of complacency.
“Yes, it’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”
“Of course, your highness. Enjoy!”
“I will.”
Next, I had to find a place to change out of my dress and into servant’s livery. As planned, I made my way to a less-used hallway that wasn’t due for cleaning yet and slipped into a storage room. Inside, I stored the dress in my bracelet directly from my body to speed up the process, then pulled out my servant outfit and got changed. To finish my disguise, I put on a quality wig and pulled out a compact mirror to adjust my makeup, changing my apparent facial shape. Lastly, I adjusted my bracelet to appear much less expensive than it was and slipped back into the hallway.
From there, I made my way through the servant’s passages to the workers’ entrance to the palace grounds. As per protocol, I was required to sign out, a process that involved scanning my interface to verify my identity. That was the most complicated part of this process, since a normal scan would reveal my true identity and expose me, preventing my escape.
It had taken a long time, but I managed to acquire one of the highly-regulated infiltrator modules for my interface, something reserved for intelligence agents working undercover. With it, I could mask my true details, making me appear as Dax Juniper, third daughter of a minor noble clan.
As I approached the exit, I had to mask my nervousness. While this wasn’t the first time I had snuck out of the palace, the stakes were higher now than they’d ever been. Fortunately, nothing went wrong, and I was soon outside the palace grounds. Keeping up my act, I made my way towards the nearest subway station where I caught a ride to the central train station after slipping inside a bathroom stall to change my look again. From there, I caught a train to the next city over, Skyvale, where the my ultimate destination was located.
After the forty-minute high-speed train ride, I got off and stepped outside the station to find a shuttle bus hovering in front of the building. On the side was a logo that clearly indicated that this vehicle was the one I was looking for. Nevertheless, I checked the vehicle’s registration with my interface to confirm.
Stepping onto the bus, I found a seat along with a few dozen other people. Everyone looked to be full of some combination of nerves and excitement, mirroring my own emotions. A few people murmured to each other, but the shuttle was largely quiet.
Once everyone was loaded, the driver closed the doors and drove away. The noise increased slightly at that, but as we approached the massive complex that was our destination, everyone fell silent. The complex was larger than the palace grounds, impressing even me.
Everyone stayed silent as we passed through the main entrance, especially while the driver spoke to the guard at the gate and verified his credentials. Once inside, it was clear that there was a second fence separating the majority of the complex from the parking lot we pulled into.
The bus stopped, and everyone got off. We were met outside the bus by a senior lieutenant who looked to be maybe forty or fifty cycles old. He eyed us like we were threats as we disembarked, and once everyone was out, he spoke.
“Children! You will behave and only speak when spoken to! Line up by twos and follow me, or the gods help me, I will have you kicked out of here in an instant.”
Everyone scrambled to follow his command, and seconds later we were in a double wide line and marching toward a nearby building. Inside, we were directed to line up at a long desk holding two more soldiers.
The line moved relatively quickly, everyone remaining silent. I assumed the others didn’t want to anger the lieutenant any more than I did. Eventually, it was my turn, and I stepped up to the counter.
“Name?” the senior ensign at the desk asked in a droll voice.
“Dax Juniper.”
He entered something into the computer. “Please place your hand on the interface scanner to verify your identity.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I did as asked, masking my fear that something would go wrong. After an excruciatingly long second, the scanner beeped, and my cover identity was displayed.
Name: Dax Juniper
Age: 20
Species: Elf
Core Tier: 1
It was strange seeing my false name and species, but I didn’t have time to reflect on that before the ensign spoke.
“Welcome to NOTA, the Naval Officer Training Academy, Ms Juniper. Please proceed to the door to the left for decontamination.”
I gave the man a nod and followed his directions, passing through a door into the next room. Inside was another ensign, this one a human woman.
“Please remove your clothing and step into an available booth, indicated by the green light. You may keep your storage device on.”
Along the wall across from me were half a dozen doors, each with a glowing light above it. Three of them were red, while the other half were green. I quickly stripped down and stepped through a door. Inside, there were two footsteps painted on the floor, spaced roughly shoulder-width apart, so I stood on them. As soon as I stood there, a thin wave of mana passed over me—clearly a cleansing device of some sort. It was followed by a few more waves. When it finished after a few minutes, something beeped, and the exit door opened.
Yet another ensign stood in the next room, and without speaking, she handed me a stack of cadet uniforms, including undergarments. As I pulled a set on, I was only briefly surprised at how well they fit before realizing one of the waves of mana must have been a size scan. Once I was dressed, she pointed through the next door, so I left her with a nod.
Inside the following room were two lines, with male cadets in one and everyone else in the other, so I stepped to the end of the appropriate line. When I finally reached the front, they had me scan my interface again. After that, the ensign at the desk handed me a tablet explaining what would happen next.
“You will be in room C14 in Divornia Hall. There is a map of the grounds on your tablet. You will have a roommate. Bathrooms are shared at the end of the floor. Meals are served at 0600, 1200, 1800, and 2400, for an hour. Unless you are on night duty, do not go to the mess at 2400. Lights out is at 2200 unless you are on night duty. Your oath ceremony will begin at 0800 in the main auditorium in Grancer Hall. Please arrive no later than 0730. Upon swearing your oath, you will receive further instructions. Please make your way to your dorm now.”
Obeying instructions, I left the building and followed the map to Divornia Hall. Inside, I went up two floors, finding the rooms labeled “C” and walking down the hall until I reached number fourteen. The scanner was warm under my hand as I waiting for it to beep and let me inside. As the door opened, I saw my new room for the next two cycles. It was relatively plain, with an upright wardrobe, single bed, and desk on either side. Sitting on the bed with a book was my roommate. She looked up as I entered, and she gave me the same assessing look I was giving her.
She was a sidhe. Like elves, she had pointed ears, though they stuck out a bit more than most elves. The major defining feature, however, was her wings. They looked somewhat similar to colored dragonfly wings, and they could fold down behind her back when she was seated or laying down. She was capable of flight, though like me in my true shape, the wings were natural mana conduits rather than strictly providing lift. That thought reminded me that I would be unable to shift for who knew how long, which I was not looking forward to.
“Hello, my name is Valissa Crimea. I take it you are my new roommate?”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m Dax Juniper.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms Juniper. As you can see, that is your side of the room. Please keep it clean and organized.”
“Of course,” I said, hiding my slight miffed feelings from my voice. I stored my new uniforms in the wardrobe and moved toward my desk which had two thin books on it. The first was a copy of the Naval Code of Conduct, while the second were the rules and regulations for cadets at NOTA. Having studied the Code of Conduct thoroughly already, I grabbed the book for cadets and hopped up on my bed to read.
When I finished reading through all the rules and regulations, I checked the clock above the door, seeing it was nearing 1800.
“Shall we head to the mess?” I asked my roommate.
She put down her book, some sort of history book based on the title, and looked over at me. “Okay.”
Unsure how to respond to her lackluster response, I just nodded and stood up. before heading through the door. The walk to the mess was silent and a little awkward. I was used to people making every attempt to curry favor with me, at least in the rare occasion I actually got to interact with others besides as little more than a display piece, so someone practically ignoring me was a strange experience.
We made it to the mess hall and got in line for food, another strange experience. I had waited in more lines today than in almost the rest of my life before this. Eventually, we got our food and found seats at a long table. About a minute later, two men sat down next to us.
“Hi! My name is Delroy Whittaker. It’s nice to meet you!” said the first man upon sitting down. He was a dark-skinned human, unlike my roommate and I who both had fair skin, though my hair was white while hers was a strawberry blonde.
“I’m Dax Juniper, and this is Valissa Crimea.”
“Nice to meet you two. I’m Gathrok Skoltoff.” The second man was an orc with skin the color of green jade.
“Are you as excited to start as I am?” Delroy asked.
Valissa just gave him a small nod before returning to her food, so I continued the conversation. “Of course. We should all be excited for the opportunity to serve the Empire.” Even if I had personal issues with my father, I still supported the Empire as a whole.
“Yeah, sure,” Delroy said a bit dismissively. “I’m mostly excited about getting to travel the stars!”
The irreverence for the Empire was a bit concerning, but I ignored it. After all, I too was excited to travel, something I hadn’t been given much opportunity to do. I mean, sure, I traveled around the planet occasionally, but I had never been allowed to traverse the Aether to visit other worlds. My first time on a starship—and probably my last—would have been to travel to Leval to marry their crown prince.
“Have you ever left the planet?” I knew that the majority of the cadets here would be from Eryth, our current planet, since all four major worlds and two minor ones held their own campus of NOTA. There were just too many people to train us all together.
They both shook their heads. “No,” Delroy answered. “First time I left my hometown was for the university.”
“I’ve traveled a bit more, but only on the planet,” added Gathrok.
We chatted a bit more about various places on the planet, then headed back to our rooms. There, I meditated to cultivate a bit before going to sleep.