Beep! Beep! An alarm sounded, waking him from his slumber. Akara jumped out of bed and rushed to the bridge. There he found his captain in armed combat with an unknown man. He watched as his captain was struck down by the sword. /\/\/\/\/\ "Captain!" He awoke with a start. He'd been having the same dream for days. That incident was his reason for enrolling in the academy. After his captain was slain, the attacker turned to him. If not for a few other crewmen arriving at that moment, he would have died. He hadn't known how to fight. He enrolled in the academy as soon as the mission was over. The academy was The Academy of Mental and Physical Enlightenment. It was a place for people to learn the ways of their chosen trade without on the job training. It helped you gain experience so you had more jobs to choose from. It also taught you self defense. The academy's philosophy was: 'To hone the mind, you must hone the body'. /\/\/\/\/\ "For the first term you will learn basic all around skills." The instructor told the room, "In the second term you will begin your chosen field training. In your fourth term you will choose a form of self defense. We here at the academy believe physical training helps the mind focus." ---------------------------- "I love hand to hand combat! It really gets my blood pumping" Said a passing student. "What good are your hands gonna do against someone with a sword?" Akara asked him bitterly. "Dude this isn't for fighting, it's to help your mind focus." "That's not why I'm here. What if you're attacked by someone while on mission?" "That's why ships hire security. So the crew doesn't have to fight." "Naive little man." /\/\/\/\/\ "Captain Akara?" The young boy's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "What is it Art?" "I was wondering if I could use your room for my meditation." "Oh, of course. It's not like I'm using it." "Thank you." Art said walking off. 'Monks, I'll never understand them.' Akara thought. *** Yume woke with Trent's face in front of hers. "Ahh!" She rolled backward off the bed. She quickly checked to make sure she was still dressed. "Good morning." Trent said sleepily. "What are you doing here?" "It's my room." "Ok, then what am I doing here?" "You passed out. I put you on the bed. What was in that cup of yours?" "I don't know. Last thing I remember is saying I was hungry." "Damn, I finally get a date and you don't remember it." "Not a date, a pity snack." "Same thing." "Why were you in the bed with me?" "Dunno, must of dosed off. I was going to go get the captain, but I can't remember if I did or not." Lisa's voice called out. "That explains it. Shouldn't we be docked by now." He said looking at the clock. "Yeah." They went to find the captain.