Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Lomali System; BCS Darklight

One word: Gigantic!

Now I know why my parents prefer to keep all the production out of our home system. There simply wouldn't be any space for it. The giant shipyards float in empty space throughout the whole system. The view screen shows ships in various states of completeness, ranging through all sizes.

"Quite the sight, huh?" Stan chuckles. He must have finished his call already.

"Yeah…" That's all I say. I literally don't have the words for it. It's like the whole star system is one giant factory. And everything belongs to my family…

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it faster than you might think. We might even have time for a short sightseeing tour at the shipyard, where the freighter makes its delivery. It would certainly be worth it."

I focus on Stan and raise an eyebrow. "You seem strangely familiar with this place."

"Oh, I am. It's my home after all. My parents own a company that sells navigation equipment, so it makes sense to be based where it is needed."

I nod in acknowledgment and sit back down on an empty seat. My tiredness is forgotten for now. What's outside is way too interesting.

The freighter ignites its drives and slowly begins moving forward. The Darklight and the other escort ship fly along left and right of it. I lean back in my seat and intently watch the screen.

During the next hour, we slowly pass various shipyards. One of them was even building a ship the size of Adrian's Maxima!

Stan still shows his calm indifference. I guess I would be the same if I grew up here. Something my damn kidnappers took from me!

Kevin, on the other hand, left the bridge five minutes ago. Now he returns with all the others following him. I turn around when I hear the door opening. They look annoyed.

Caroline complains loudly. "For real, Kevin… What could possibly be so exciting to rob me of my well-deserved sleep…" She trails off and her mouth drops open when she sees the scene around us, displayed on the view screen. "Is this… Live?"

"Yeah," I nod at her.

"Wow," she mutters and immediately grabs a seat for herself.

Then we continue cruising along. Finally, one of the shipyards gets highlighted: Our destination!

Stan lifts his hand to his ear, signaling another incoming Communication spell. A minute later, he informs us that we are to fly ahead and coordinate things with the customs officers aboard the shipyard.

My mind immediately goes toward instructor Schmidt's declaration of a corrupt customs officer. I wonder if this one's the one.

Turns out he isn't. We dock at the shipyard well before the freighter and the others quickly talk to two of the customs officers. They discuss a few things, and before I know it, the Darklight is ferrying the two men toward the freighter where they disembark our ship and enter the much bigger one.

Thirty minutes later, the freighter is allowed to dock and deliver its goods. Unfortunately, we're not allowed any sightseeing tours as this specific shipyard is producing warships.

That's why I finally decide to get some sleep. Before I lie down in my bed, I mentally set myself a reminder to return to the Lomali System as soon as possible for a real tour. I really want to learn more about my family's business. It probably has to wait until after the Earth Adventure, I guess.

Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Kessin System; BCS Darklight

Things finish up quickly in the Lomali System, and our freighter leaves as quickly as it entered the industrial capital of the Valterion Duchy. We're doing the rearguard again and will exit the wormhole any moment now. Three more star systems, then we're already done. Only two of them are part of The Empire. The one we're about to enter, the Kessin System, and then there is the Hopper System, which is a border system, so we probably have to deal with border control then. Conveniently enough, dealing with border control is also one of our assignments.

There aren't many things left on our list… The biggest one hasn't happened yet, and opportunities get fewer, the further we travel along our route. I'm talking about the simulated pirate attack of course.

That's also why we're all up and ready for anything just minutes before we exit the wormhole. I do a short countdown when it's time to exit. Once I reach zero, I cancel the Wormhole spell and we reappear in real space. The space bubble dissolves and we take in our surroundings.

One thing is immediately obvious.

"Where's the escort?" Ulia points out what we're all seeing… Or rather not seeing.

"Dunno, but that can only mean something is wrong," Stan replies with a surprisingly calm voice. "Shields up!"

Caroline nods and casts a spell. In the meantime, the freighter exits the wormhole as well and appears next to us. Stan takes it all in, then turns to Ulia. "Can you put a Shield spell around the freighter?"

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She shakes her head. "No, sorry, it's too big… I would have to be over there and use their Magitech emitters to do so."

He acknowledges her answer with a single nod. "Alright, no problem. Then we just have to do it the hard way and be between any possible attacks and the freighter. Sara, that's your job."

I give him a thumbs-up. "You can count on me."

"Perfect! Now, what's the situation? Any results from our sensors?"

"No, nothing," Kevin replies from his console. "But I just got a message from the freighter. They ask what's going on."

Stan turns to Paul. "Paul, can you send a reply? Tell them that the other escort went AWOL and that they should actively look for threats."

Paul acknowledges the order and gets to work. Our ship slowly circles the freighter in the meantime. For now, it continues to fly straight ahead because we have to vacate the space close to the wormhole's exit.

For five agonizing minutes, nothing happens, then Kevin shouts. "I've got something! There's a ship closing in from our left. They've got no IFF running and don't respond to my pings. I suggest treating them as hostile."

Stan agrees. "Thanks, Kev, I'm putting us between them and the freighter for now. Try to hail them."

The ship changes course and moves to cover the freighter's left flank. The main screen splits and now shows a zoomed in view with a rather small starship right in the middle. It does pack a frightening amount of guns for its size though.

"They're responding!" Kevin calls out a minute later, then the main screen splits again and now shows a young man beside the view of the other ship.

He speaks in a cheerful voice. "Hey there, just a heads-up for you… We're the pirates you're supposed to fight off. I'm sending over a confirmation code as I'm speaking. Anyway, it's tradition that the loser pays the drinks back on campus. See you then!"

The video cuts off, leaving us staring at the screen. The pirates are other students from FBC? Is there a pirating course or something?

A new shout from Kevin interrupts my thoughts. "We've got incoming!"

The lights on the bridge turn red, and the screen switches to a tactical display. It shows outgoing railgun fire from the pirate ship. The big "TRAINING AMMUNITION" in red bold letters is impossible to miss, and I let out a silent sigh of relief.

Showtime!

The first volley doesn't even aim for our small ship. Instead, the projectiles head straight for the freighter's engines in the back. Stan curses. We're too far away to catch them with our shields.

He looks at me and I immediately understand his assignment. I nod once and send the need for coordinates along my precast AI Call spell. Clara immediately sends them and also primes a Teleportation spell. I take over from her and finalize the casting. Then we vanish from where we've just been.

A split second later, we're right between the engines and the incoming railgun fire. Caroline recasts her Shield spell around the Darklight, while Ulia casts a big shield plane a bit ahead of our ship.

Seconds later, it catches the training ammunition with barely a flicker. There is only one problem though…

While we were distracted, the pirate vessel fired another volley. This time, they aimed for a section closer to the freighter's bow. Stan swears again and starts turning to look at me. Before he can do so, I've already teleported in place. He nods in thanks.

The process repeats itself two more times, before Stan huffs in annoyance. Then he starts commanding our next moves. "Things can't continue like this! We need to return fire and we can't protect the full broadside of the freighter… Not when we're one escort down. Paul, can you tell the freighter to turn? Ask them to present their bow… It's one of the most armored sections. Caroline, don't bother with our own shielding after the next jump. Ulia's spell proved to be enough and we still have our traditional shields. Instead, prepare to send the Tracer spell back at the pirates."

Everyone voices their agreement and gets to work. We don't have to take long, as the next volley is already incoming. I quickly exchange a few words with Paul, asking him if he has already sent his message. When he nods, I cast the Teleportation spell for the fifth time in a row.

It's a good thing, I have magic to spare… Others would have already been exhausted. I also think that Stan should have been faster with ordering a proper response. From my perspective, we wasted four volleys without doing anything. That indecision could end badly in a real situation. Still, I don't voice my thoughts out loud. I'm just the taxi after all.

At least, the plan comes together. The freighter turns, now only showing a narrow profile. That means we don't have to teleport back and forth anymore – at least not until the pirates change their own position to get a better shot. Other than that, Ulia catches the incoming volley with her shield and Caroline sends out a few Tracer spells.

Said spells shoot out and leave streaks of yellow light behind. A few seconds later, they impact the pirates' shields and light them up with bright yellow flashes. Other than that, nothing happens.

Stan orders us to fly closer to the pirates and asks Kevin to send our own training ammunition back at them. We exchange a few volleys this way until we're in laser range. Then the lasers get added as well.

So far our shields hold strong but the same can also be said for our opponents. While Caroline's Tracer spells hit their shields most of the time, they show no signs of weakening.

It's obvious that the shields won't weaken as we're not using real ordnance, but we've got a nice little "simulated shield strength" counter on our main screen. While we're ahead in numbers, both shields are well in the green. So I guess we just outlast them?

Of course, that's when there's a sudden change. I feel a great surge of magic, then a Tracer spell, almost ten times the size of the ones Caroline sent out, appears. It impacts Ulia's shield before us and disappears.

If that would have been all, everything would be fine… But a klaxon sounds and our shield indicator shows a red zero. Additionally, the main screen now shows a simulation of the spell continuing toward the Darklight.

I react immediately and teleport us to the side, then teleport again, just to be sure. The others stare wide-eyed at the screen. No one seems to be realizing that we're not done yet.

"Guys!" I call out and point at the screen. Their shield now shows up considerably weaker. "Finish them!"

Both Ulia and Caroline send out their own Tracer spells and finally the result we wanted arrives. The pirates' shields are down and another Tracer hits their engines. Luckily, they didn't resume firing at us because currently, we're rather lightly shielded. That whole situation was a bit sloppy. You can't freeze like this!

Anyway, the fight is over and the pirate ship calls us again. Stan accepts and sends the man's face to the main screen. "Damn, that was hell of a move in the end. I thought we had you, but well… Congratulations. Call me when you're back. Drinks are on me and my buddies. Good luck on your final stretch!"

Stan exchanges a few more words with him, but it's nothing important. Then we return to the freighter and continue our trip as if nothing has happened. One thing still bothers me though… Where is the other escort?

We reach the outgoing wormhole and there's still no sign of the other ship. Stan calls for a full stop a few hundred kilometers before the wormhole. He starts a video conference with the freighter crew to discuss things. It's a tricky situation we're in with the missing escort. But I've got the perfect solution: Send the freighter in, then directly teleport to the other end of the wormhole to secure it. I wait for them to find the answer themselves though. If I tell them, this gotta be impacting their grades. I think they've already lost enough points with their slow reactions.

After about five minutes of back and forth between Stan and the freighter's captain, Caroline seems to get it. She looks at me and her face brightens. Then she nudges Stan and whispers in his ear. He turns around and a grin finds its way on his face.

He turns back around and lifts his hand to silence the other captain's rant. "Captain Hughes, I've got the solution. I've just been informed that my Space Mage can cross the distance with a direct jump. So if you enter the wormhole right now, we'll be waiting for you on the other side."

That appeases the other captain and he agrees to the plan. Fifteen minutes later, the freighter enters the wormhole and vanishes. Then it's my turn. I ask Clara for a set of coordinates a bit away from the wormhole exit. I don't want to jump straight into another ship that's about to enter the wormhole from the other side after all.

It takes a few seconds, then she has locked them in. I do a quick check with Stan and when he tells me he's ready, I cast the Starship Jump spell and we leave the Kessin System behind.

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