Potential

Eva eventually took her hopper back to Washington DC, but didn’t quite head back to her tourist shuttle. She still had plenty of time left on the clock to view the city and its surroundings, but decided that there wasn’t much she could actually do out there.

Most everything cost an unbelievable amount of money. Money that she barely had.

So she decided to take the first steps into earning something, anything. Since she was most valuable as a pilot, she figured that going to get her piloting accreditation was the best thing she could do. 

Her DI immediately pointed her towards the closest Federal Starpilot Licensing Bureau located in the heart of DC proper. Her hopper parked itself in one of the designated zones as usual, and she walked over to the massive FSLB campus. 

The Bureau in DC was a sprawl of numerous buildings surrounding an open courtyard, and spanned numerous city blocks. And since it was midday, the entire place was buzzing with activity. There were literally thousands of people out and about here, getting their licenses. 

Or at least, they were sorting out whatever problem they had with their licenses.

Regardless, it was a great many people and Eva shuddered at the thought of her being in a line that was thousands of people deep.

But as she walked up the steps to cross the courtyard, she quickly recognized one of the people trying to make their way into the main building. It was Miko, the girl she met and befriended on that fateful lifeboat adventure.

She walked up and greeted the girl enthusiastically.

“Hey! Remember me?” Eva asked.

Miko turned around in surprise, and a smile quickly spread across her small face when she saw Eva.

“How could I forget?” she said. “First hour inside of this galaxy, and already getting shot at! How are you doing today… pardon me… this cycle?”

“Eh, could be better,” Eva replied. “I’m way too poor to go anywhere or buy anything.”

“Same with myself. Are you here to get a piloting license?”

Eva nodded.

“I take it that’s what you’re doing, too?” she asked.

“Yes. I need a CCI License before I can acquire an MBX License,” Miko replied. “I will need both if I am to maintain or build any piloting equipment.”

“I know what the CCI License is - Civilian, Commercial, and Industrial. But what’s MBX? I’m guessing it’s a more specialized license?”

Miko gave her a short nod, even as Eva’s DI gave her a brief video that broke down the different licenses.

“The MBX is an alliteration for the Military, Bespoke, and Experimental license,” Miko replied. “We can qualify for the CCI here at the Bureau, which will be required for the MBX.”

“Could we get the MBX here, too?” Eva asked. “Could get it all done in one shot if possible.”

“No. Those can only be acquired through the military, or through corporate sponsorship.”

“I’d rather avoid the corpo life if at all possible.”

“Agreed.”

Eva’s DI filled her in further on the MBX license. It specifically noted that getting one didn’t exactly require enlisted service, and was obtainable through a variety of ways. Usually, simply going through the Naval Academy and acquiring military contracts was more than enough.

“Well, wanna go get our CCI’s together?” Eva asked. “Some company’s better than none.”

Miko smiled happily and agreed quickly, at which point both of them walked towards the large central building. Both their DIs pointed them towards it to begin their accreditation tests.

More than that, both their DIs filled out their application forms for them, and sent them in even before they walked through the massive main entrance. The only thing they had to do was digitally sign their forms and that was pretty much that.

They were both quickly accepted and assigned to an instruction hall for lectures.

Eva found the process absolutely easy and streamlined. Despite the many many many people outside, they two of them passed through the halls without a single hitch. She got the notion that the only thing that could have made things even easier was if she didn’t have to physically come to the Bureau in the first place.

The two of them chatted a little more as they headed into the instruction hall, where they were supposed to learn more about the licenses themselves. Although they had already discussed the differences between the CCI and MBX, the instructors got further into the weeds regarding the different applications of said licenses.

Whatever lectures they went to were otherwise relatively straightforward. 

“Anyone can use hoppers for interplanetary flight,” said one of the instructors. “And anyone can use personal passenger shuttles for intersystem flights. However, that is all specifically just for travel. Beyond that is a completely different game with more complex requirements.

“That said, let’s get into the specifics, shall we?

“The Civilian portion of the license is necessary for intergalactic travel, specifically. For example, if anyone wishes to leave the Sol System, you need a CCI to do so. It hardly matters if you’re the one piloting or not. It is the most basic function of your CCI.

“The Commercial portion is exactly as it sounds. It is required for any earnings-based piloting. Such as acting as a shuttle pilot, or as a shipping pilot, or for crewing on ships such as those. For example, if you work for a plantation on Venus whose clients reside on planet Wyeth in the Renalo system. A CCI is needed for any pilots and crew shipping those goods across different solar systems.

“Last but not least, the Industrial portion acts similarly to the Commercial portion. Let’s say that you’re an asteroid miner out in Argolith, or a drone operator on Archamondus. But your main residence is here on Gaea. Or maybe on Helios. In any case, you would need the CCI in order to legitimately work those professions.

“I hope that makes things clearer.

“Now, connect your DIs to our instruction terminal here and open up the packet titled ‘Responsible Maintenance of your Piloting License’. There is much to know and do, and any kind of mistake could result in a revocation of your licensing.”

As the lecture proceeded, Miko found herself completely enraptured by the information that was presented to her. She absorbed each and every word that the lecturer said, and missed absolutely none of it. She made sure to cross-reference everything that was instructed to her with all of the available resources to ensure that she understood it in full.

It hardly mattered if it was information she already knew and had studied up prior to the lecture itself. She was always studious and was detail oriented to the nth degree.

Eva on the other hand was in absolute shambles. Tiamat’s Transcendence kicked in the moment the instructors began their lesson and didn’t let up a single bit all throughout. Her mind became clouder and cloudier as the seconds ticked by. 

She just couldn’t concentrate on what was being taught, not in the slightest. The words were literally going through one ear and out the other. The moment she thought she grasped some part of their lecture, her mind would immediately wander towards something else completely different.

Not only that, but as she reviewed the lesson texts shared through the instructors’ terminals, the words seemed to literally float away from sight.

She found it close to infuriating.

Being in a classroom never suited her from the beginning anyway, even in her old life. She was always the kind who learned by doing, and was bored to death by any other method. Eva found the hands-on approach best no matter what.

But now on top of that, her trait made the simple act of learning in a classroom virtually impossible!

If it wasn’t for a similar licensing system in Bellum Aeterna, she would have been completely ignorant of what was being taught.

Do you need learning assistance? her DI prodded.

“Yes, please! I’m dying!” Eva told it quietly.

Her DI immediately provided her with all kinds of supplementary study materials to coincide with whatever the instructors were teaching. Such as images, videos, blueprints, 3D models, and more. This helped her vastly, as these supplements allowed her to process all of the information in a more interactive, nonlinear fashion.

It gave her the time and space to literally manipulate visual models as projected in her mind’s eye, which she much more easily absorbed.

And when the lecturers discussed the importance of different piloting cores, her DI displayed numerous kinds as developed by different manufacturers. It showed her how they were uniformly designed so a variety of chassis could be fitted over them.

In her mind’s eye, she manipulated the imaginary cores and chassis. She opened them up and explored them, or combined them with different modules to optimize their performance.

This immediately caused her trait to ebb and vanish, and instead sparked whatever joy she had in learning about new technologies. Eva loved that difference, as she was able to experiment with different cores and different chassis and different equipment loadouts in all kinds of combinations.

She found it similar to how the ships in Bellum Aeterna worked - piloting cores were typically spherical in nature. They were essentially modular pods where the pilots actually sat in, and were the basis for the vast majority of spacefaring skirmish vessels across the galaxy. 

The way they worked was relatively simple. They were typically graded from D to A, with the absolute best being graded with an S classification. Some were graded with X to signify that they were experimental, or U to signify that they had nonstandard outputs.

The different grades simply signified how much energy and computing power the cores could handle, among other things.

The cores could be inserted into practically any compatible chassis, whether they were superiority fighters or mecha. This basic modularity allowed pilots to easily tune their favorite high-powered core and insert them into whatever chassis was required at the time.

Of course, every chassis was also graded and ranked D through S as well. And although a core could easily install a part that was lower-ranked, it could only perform at the rank of the part itself. Parts that were ranked higher than their cores usually wouldn’t work at all - they simply had greater computational and energy needs.

For example, typically a B-ranked core could be inserted into a C-ranked fighter. But the core would essentially operate with C-ranked output. Whatever excess power it could create would be wasted. On the other hand, installing an A-ranked weapon on that same core and chassis combination would cause the weapon to malfunction.

It wouldn’t even have the energy required to activate, much less fire.

Eva and Miko spent hours going through lecture after lecture learning the different intricacies of the various piloting cores, chassis, and professions available to any CCI License holders. They soaked up as much information as they could until every class was completed, at which point they decided to immediately go and take their exams. 

There was hardly any need for them to hesitate, after all. 

And thankfully the exams were relatively simple, albeit somewhat involved and lengthy. Each exam was essentially a virtualized, simulated test in a little booth that had simplified core control decks, throttles, and flight sticks.

All they had to do was perform whatever was required of them once they booted up the test. And of course meet certain thresholds in order to proceed to the next test.

Each one reminded them of arcade games back in their old lives, like the ones that were race cars or fighter jets. In their own way these exams were pretty much exactly like that. Not only did they have goals to meet, but they were strictly timed, and could only take so much damage before outright failure.

Eva felt like she was playing a meta-game within a meta-game, and secretly hoped she would get some sort of digital animal as a present for beating them. Or maybe a funny title and an achievement. It would come with a DING and some fanfare.

In any case, they were tested on the practical applications that every lecture they had attended previously. So they found themselves maneuvering small passenger shuttles in and out of atmosphere, hauling precious gems across solar systems, flying refueling ships among asteroid miners, and so on.

More than that, they were mired in all kinds of procedures - requesting takeoff, calculating teleport routes, opening up for cargo scans, and so on.

Although Miko was a bit unsteady during her exams, she got through them without any problems whatsoever. At the same time, Eva was almost ridiculously proficient at what she had to test on. She adjusted to each ship type relatively quickly.

Either way, both of them expertly met their goals with absolute expertise. The examiners who were overseeing them looked on incredulously as they tackled their scenarios with grace and style. Most test takers simply had difficulty grasping the concept of six degrees of motion, and had to try multiple times to pass.

But these two easily surpassed whatever goals were in front of them and gained near-perfect scores in the process. 

And once they were done, their status was almost immediately updated in the Bureau’s databanks, and their licenses were awarded. 

To Eva’s chagrin, there was no pomp or circumstance. No dings and alerts. No fancy titles. Certainly no plastic cards with bad photographs. 

Their DIs simply flashed with Congratulations, and they received entries on their Status page that denoted their licensing credentials.

Both were celebrating vividly as they exited the bureau, high on their achievements and ready to celebrate. As they discussed what they should do next, a familiar voice sounded out from behind them.

“Well well well,” said the voice. “Looks like we caught ourselves a couple of black-haired birds, huh boys?”

Alarm bells immediately went off in Eva’s mind on hearing Nightmare speak. It sent waves of disgust up and down her spine.

Her DI quickly filled up with various warnings, along with suggestions for incredibly brutal methods of torture.