EV/EVO Chronicles: Ember's In The Void: Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Anglo Flemarian

As he sent a transmission to Noxtrus, his smile deepened as credits were added to his bank account. He turned the computer off and headed for the classroom...

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For two days Drake filled out forms. Some of them were as straightforward as name, birth date, and favorite color. But most of them were open-ended questions that Drake hadn’t heard of, including the reasons for exploration, and the idea behind researching new technologies to fight the Embin Empire.

When Drake found his classroom after two days of filling out forms, he sat down in the only empty seat at the back. All the students stopped talking and turned around in their seats to stare at him, and Drake found himself turning red. He looked down at his desk. The boy next to him asked him what his name was. When Drake told him, the boy said, “Hello Drake, my name is Jeck. Do you like battling on the simulator? I love to. My average score is 436. What’s yours?” He said this all in one breath.

While Drake stared at him, a familiar voice at the front said, "Students, please meet our new student, Drake."

Drake looked up in disbelief. Anglo was standing at the front of the room, and he had a teacher's uniform on. Anglo winked at him. “I got ‘promoted’,” he said to Drake.

Classes were fine. Drake learned about the history of the exploration of the Void, as well as the types of ships and each of their history from Anglo. Drake also learned new strategies from other children on the simulator. He taught a boy named Jeck his favorite maneuver, and Jeck taught Drake the Crusher. The Crusher worked by shooting two quick rockets, then speeding to the enemy's other side to shoot two more. It worked all the time on slow ships, because if they couldn’t dodge any of the rockets, then they were crushed between them.

The other children learned to stay out of Jeck and Drake’s way while they were fighting on the simulator. If they got too close, then a carefully aimed rocket would destroy them. They had to fight far from Jeck and Drake, so that they didn’t get destroyed quickly.

It was rumored that the long battles of Jeck and Drake were monitored closely by the principal of the school. Some rumors even went so for to say that the Admiral himself actually looked at them. Whatever the case, the teachers definitely closely watched all the practice battles, and noted down strategies, as Drake found out by peeking inside Anglo’s room after classes were over. Anglo was staring down at his computer. The latest battle of Drake and Jeck, dodging, shooting and swerving, was all over the screen.

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Most of Anglo’s classes had the same appearance every day. First they would review what they had done the day before, then they would learn something new, then, at the end, they would have a short quiz.

For instance, the day that they learned about the exploration of ISP-0001, they started with a review about Derk Uin’s life. Then Anglo stood up, and said, “Today we are going to learn about ISP-0001. Does anyone know anything about it?”

A short girl named Rita raised her hand. When Anglo called her name, she said tentatively, “Wasn’t that the first planet explored by the Omega Squadrant?”

After Anglo told her she was right, he asked, “Does anyone know what Omega Squadrant was famous for?”

Even Drake knew that. Omega Squadrant had been the first squadrant to visit Noxtrus, the homeworld of the alien race that the Truslin race was currently at war with.

Anglo nodded, and went on to explain that it was also the site of an old tomb, which hadn’t been opened. It seemed that a ‘curse’ would be laid on whoever opened it. Anglo disregarded this as nonsense, but the archaeologists who explored it didn’t seem to want to open it. Right before they started the quiz, Anglo told everybody that some kind of giant supposedly held the key to the tomb, which is why he didn’t believe anything. However, as he handed out the question sheets, everybody could tell that there was always a possibility always

End of Chapter Two