FSE

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Throughout the history of early spaceflight, the single most dangerous aspect to crewed missions also sustained life on every world that bears it. The empty cold of space never took a life prior to the development of the FTL drive and the formation of the Republic; all crew fatalities occurred either immediately after launch or upon reentry. The same life-giving barrier of atmosphere continued to challenge lupine engineering for decades during the use of chemical thrust launch systems. Modern vessels generally lack the risk early rocket-back capsules had, however Lucian had not been in a vessel upon entry into Arct Kybers atmosphere. His Single Occupant Drop-pod contained little more than a rudimentary guidance system, a tiny life support module, inertial dampeners, and barely enough room for him to turn his head within its coffin-like confines.

Lucian blinked. The small blue running lights had turned on inside the pod. Shifting a bit, Lucian felt the fog of sleep just under his eyes. He must have just woken up; odd because he didn't remember passing out. The Gs from entry must have knocked him out. But for how long? The blue lights were a good sign at least: the pod had landed intact in conditions its onboard systems deemed safe.

Two mechanical release switches, one on either side of his head, popped the door clean off, giving Lucian following it to the ground, landing muzzle first in the dirt outside the pod. Shaking off and standing up, Lucian got his bearings: Forest, large old growth trees, the underbrush wasn't terribly dense and there was a stream about 20 meters to his right. Could have been much worse place to touch down.

Unfortunately there was absolutely no way guess the time of day, or how long he had been passed out. The ethereal twilight also put a damper on finding his location. Without a sun to follow, Lucian couldn't find north.

"Fuck. basic survival. Nothing basic about this." he dug through the small storage compartment of the SOD, hoping to find the survival kit these things should come with. Instead a small tablet was tucked inside, no supplies. "Of course they took out the kits. Fuuuuuuck."

The tablet powered on with a press of the button, quickly displaying a screen preset for this exercise. A short message read across the screen,

THIS IS A TEST OF YOUR RESOURCEFULNESS UNDER PRESSURE. REPORT TO THE KYBER ASML CENTER BY 2500 TOMORROW NIGHT. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO DO SO, A RESCUE TEAM CAN BE DISPATCHED TO YOUR LOCATION AT REQUEST.

A command to summon evac was unsurprisingly configured as the only input option. A single choice. To give up.

"Well that's not an option." Tossing the tablet aside, Lucian took stock of what he DID have. A water supply from the creek, he could use the filters inside the life support module to purify it. Shelter if he turned the SOD on its side, maybe partially bury it to conserve heat. A few sparks from any of the electronic components could easily make a fire. Probably some leftover propellant in the thrusters too. The seat in the pod would suffice for bedding.

"Nothing for getting out of here though." sitting back down, Lucian picked back up the tablet. "Too bad they neutered this thing. It should almost certainly have a GPS system that can patch into the planets global network. I wonder...".

Lucian brought up the display. The single option to summon evac remained, however he managed to bring up the command shell. The tablet might be running a special program that locks out basically everything on it, but he could force his way past. He tried a few different common apps that come as bloatware on consumer tablets like this, trying to activate them through the command shell. It seemed they were wiped prior to the special training program being installed. Well, wiped as much as a computer can be, which is to say just on the surface. Lucian forced the tablet to factory reset, within minutes the tablet booted up again without any trace of the quitter program.

"Hehe, wouldn't Dev be proud of me?"

The tablet readily synced to the planets public wireless network, distributed via satellite. Not terribly fast or stable, but more than enough to download a free terrain mapper app and chart a path right to the Academy.

Lucian gathered up a few spent propellant cans, quickly had them disinfected with some campfire boiled water and filled with more fresh water. Strapped to the harness from the pod, Lucian had well over a days worth of water and a some of the more useful bits of the SOD packed. Two hours after emerging, he bid the coffin farewell and began the hike to the academy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Kyber ASML center wasn't easy. Two weeks after their hard landing, Lucian, Dev and Rorick had already been bombarded with both tests and training. Unlike basic training where every soldier learned the same things; officers courses differed by role but overall followed the same parameters. At the Kyber ASML, skills weren't taught by division or branch, but to the individual. A pilot could be assigned a test for combat engineers, if they scored well enough they could be thrown into combat engineer courses then put into a second test that forces them to utilize skills of both a pilot and engineer. This cross disciplinary testing then training produced the hyper specialized and qualified soldiers required for the most intense combat units. A covert insertion team often lacked the luxury of dedicated field roles. By focusing secondary aptitude training on already possessed skills, training time could be minimized.

Dev and Rorick were just field grunts according to their service records, the ASML is where they could prove their specialty and be recognized for their other talents. This set Lucian at ease. His two best friends had already been noticed for their aptitudes. During the crash survival test the first day, Rorick had treated a fellow cadet who suffered some minor injuries in the crash and carried them to the Academy. Dev used the tablet provided to hack into an automated transit cab rather than hike like Lucian had; he had technically refused the extraction option and thus maintained the parameters of the test. The faculty agreed not to pursue charges if he kept within the law for the rest of the training. Apparently he wasn't the first to do something like that.

So while they went straight to medical corp and cyberwar division training, Lucian felt a little left behind. As of yesterday, he was the only member of the cadet cadre to not have started a secondary specialty course. Several other cadets had courses in three disciplines. Lucian could shoot a gun. That's about it. None of the tests noted marks in leadership ability, that was assumed. For the first time in his life, Lucian's leadership personality wasn't special. As he sat on a stainless metal bench outside the Cadre Command Office, he pondered the mixed emotions of the predicament.

I was born to leadership, that's always been a given. Thinking like a leader, that's always been whats set me apart. I never thought this place was going to be easy, but I never imagined I'd be the bottom of the class like this. Everyone here is leader, an expert in a field already, branching out to yet another. I cant build a bomb from junk in a trash receptacle, or preform a field amputation with a combat knife or something crazy. Unless there's a test on intercolonial trade dispute negotiations, nothing I learned growing up helps whatsoever.

The lead instructor for their cadre, the same Colonel that had seen them off the transport, could be heard inside arguing with two of the other instructors. About him, Lucian had little doubt.

Probably trying to decide who gets to tell the Senator they flunked her son out.

The door abruptly opened, the cadres two junior instructor both stormed out, smelling of frustration. The shorter of the two, a tan and black coated Lupis several years Lucian senior turned to address him.

Jumping to his paws and coming to a full salute on reflex, "First Commander Bravis, Sir." Lucian barked in perfect form.

Scowling his eyes lightly, Bravis looked over Lucian head to foot, finally meeting his eyes. Without giving him leave to break the salute, "Cadet Iceheart, if it were up to me I'd send you back to the Homeworld with your tail between your legs, papered Senate pets like you don't belong here. The Colonel is however insistent that you be put through some of the rarer testing batteries. You best thank him for his persistence next time you meet with him. Right now you are to report to your quarters and await a testing session at 1700 hours this evening." he turned to look at his personal tablet and tapped a few keys. "Dismissed Cadet"!

Without a word Lucian spun off to his dorm. A test at 1700 hours?

Maybe he could get a solid hour or two of sleep, but not much else. This is probably my last chance to prove myself, too. It's going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That whole night Lucian spent testing, mostly obscure disciplines or things not even military disciplines at all! One of the tests had been on swordplay, another on astronomy. He'd seen a few classic vid productions that portrayed archaic swordplay, and he knew basic planetary and space sciences well enough, but he had little idea how much use this would be for cross-disciplinary training, assuming he scored anywhere near well to begin with. He hasn't received any kind of results yet, and as it stood, he was next in line to take the dreaded "Death Test".

He'd seen the test from the observation window 17 times now, seventeen times it had been a totally different test. The chamber it took place in was a vast holographic projections simulator, connected to a room full of server banks housing a highly sophisticated AI. Since the Academy lacked a universal training regimen, but rather focused on developing individual cadets to their own potential (according to the brochure at least), every test was a freshly designed, intuitive, self evolving simulation. The designer, an Ottarian programer sat in the control booth. The Mustelid personally oversaw the systems operation, the beady eyed alien had a bit of a reputation as zealously protective of his creation. Due to the near total inpronouncability of Ottarian names, his specially fitted academy uniforms nameplate read 'K Maru', however the cadets had a slew of foul names for him.

The program was simple: regardless of what simulation was developed and thrown at you, you'd die. The test wasn't about winning, it was about the way you died. One of the best performances thus far had just finished, another combat-oriented cadet named Ysanne Stormcrown.

Lucian had more free time on his hands than most of the recruits, lacking any classes, so he often found himself watching the other cadets. Ysanne in particular caught his eyes. She held a few centimeters in height over Lucian, slimmer but clearly having better toned muscles. Her fur was pure white, broken by a small streak of black in her hair. Since dyes were prohibited in the military, it was probably a natural patterning. Lucian had wondered if the small black streaks continued anywhere else, under her uniform. Her blood red eyes held a determined fire to them, something Lucian wished he could muster. Something about her gave her this gravity, the cadet common room seemed to fall towards her whenever she entered. Her performance in the Death Test was equally remarkable.

Her particular skill set held the same ferocity and power Lucian saw in her eyes, least in his opinion. Front lines combat met her secondary skill set of a sniper and infiltrator, basically the ideal combination for some of the most destructive and efficient units fielded by the Republic. Upon entry into the simulator, she was placed at the top of a hill overlooking what appeared to be a Leonian industrial complex. Her objectives were twofold: download the mainframe and recover the schematics of the weapons being produced and destroy the facility by any means. She cut through a dozen sentries with ease, from the observation room all the other cadets couldn't hold back their excited chatter. The sim threw her the first bit of trouble right after she copied the schematics: she couldn't transfer them remotely. She was forced to fight to a heavily defended part of the facility to get to an uplink terminal, breaking her covert attack. She held the terminal while it sent the upload, but was forced out of position one the simulated Leonian defenders fired a shoulder mounted rocket at room. Eventually she made a final stand in the generator room of the facility, pinned down and forced to make a choice: attempt to escape or complete the final objective. It surprised Lucian little that she chose to stay and detonate the generator once as many Leonian soldiers were on top of her position as possible. The simulation would certainly score her high marks for wiping out so many enemy combatants, completing all mission objectives and dying in a valorous fashion.

She emerged from the simulators ready-room into the observation chamber to the applause of the other cadets. Lucian smiled, that had honestly been the best simulation yet.

Dev stood up "Well we have yet another fatality. What's that bring the total too? 16 dead? And just little old me left alive? Haha!" he gloated to the groans of the entire cadre.

Even Rorick wasn't thrilled about his immature posturing. "Dev, buddy, you cheated during your sim. This thing is supposed to be guaranteed death. The stunt you pulled gave that poor Ottarian a heart attack. I don't think I've ever heard one of them get so angry either. Your lucky he didn't claw out your eyes."

"It's not my fault his simulation gave me a challenge I was supposed to hack my way out of." Dev puffed his white and black chest out in indigition.

"How the flaming Blood Moons did you hack the simulation with a SIMULATED terminal?! There wasn't really a terminal there! You were just typing away at air and you hacked the AI! Like, what the fuck?" Rorick looked exasperated.

"Sit down you dunce or you'll get us in trouble I am NOT scrubbing the heads with you for the rest of the session. That's all you." Lucian intejected, Dev reluctantly sat down and kept quiet.

"Well it certainly was out of the box thinking. And Torrens, you weren't too bad yourself, how many surgeries did your sim make you do?" Ysanne sat between Rorick and myself, keeping Dev on the far side of the larger dog. Lucian was startled with her chosen seat, this was the closest he had been to her since orientation.

"I think it was 6 before the field camp came under fire. I did three more quick procedures before the mortars started falling then I sorta lost track once I was out in the trenches. Not sure I actually saved any of the patients after that point." Rorick sat back and scrunched his brow.

"To be honest, your sim terrified me, way more then what I just did. Explosions I can handle, firefights, sure. But the gore? That was worse than a horror vid, I'm shocked that the sims AI could develop something like that" Ysanne shuddered lightly, probably not noticeably to the other cadets, but next to her he could feel it.

From across the room, an all brown coat male Lucian recognized as his 'friend' from the SOD Launch bay the first day on Arct Kyber, spoke up. "The AI runs a brainscan on top of your service record and personal history, what we saw was exactly how fucked up in the head Torrens is."

Lucian regretted taunting the jerk when he did, since then, Cadet Vilhem had taken every opportunity he could to harass Lucian or his friends. He had lost interest in Dev, Lucian suspected it was because Dev took to much pride in being insulted.

Rorick on the other paw wasn't as easily amused. The hulking almost two full meter Lupis stood, teeth barred and growl silencing all others in the room. Before Lucian could talk his friend down, he pounced like a beast onto Vilhelm, toppling both him and the seat. Pinned under Rorick, Vilhem struggled but was easily overpowered and held down. Rorick pressed a dull claw against the side of Vilhems neck, snarling all the while into his face.

"One flick of my wrist and I tear out your carotid artery. You will have less than 15 seconds to live. In two I will have broken your jaw open wide, another 3 to remove what's left of your tongue. Two more to gouge out both your eyes, and 8 seconds to pull down my pant and piss down your throat. The last thing you will see is me. The last thing you will smell is your own blood and fear. The last thing you will hear is your own screams. The last thing you will taste is me claiming you. If the next thing you say is something I don't like, it will be the last thing you do. Understand?" In that moment, everything about Rorick terrified Lucian to the core. He knew Rorick had a difficult past he talked very little about, he'd seen lots of death. But this...

The brown Vilhem looked like a flattened patch of dirt, he gave a nod to his captor, not daring to breath a reply.

Rorick stood up, no regards to Vilhem as he did so, the latter still flattened against the floor in fright. Rorick gave nothing but a grunt as he returned to his seat across the aisle. The deathly stillness that had taken over the room broke as the Junior Instructor First Commander Bravis barged in, datapad in paw, totally oblivious to the scene that had just taken place.

"Cadet Lucian Iceheart, your sim is next please report to the ready roo- what the Blood Moons, Cadet Vilhem get up off the floor!" The visibly broken cadet did as instructed only to receive a glare from the First Commander when he saw his academy uniform, namely the stain on the midsection. "Well I don't know how much you had to drink last night, but you better get your tail to your quarters, sleep it off, then come back here and scrub this damn floor till it shines!" Pointing to another cadet seated nearby, "You, get a mop and cleaning supply. I never thought I'd actually see a cadet 'piss drunk'. Clean it up. Iceheart. Sim room. Now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucian, having been saved by Death Test sim, as it were, was still trying to process what he just saw. Gearing up in the ready-room seemed a blur, however upon stepping into the stark white chamber the size of an amphitheater, taking his position in the middle of the room he was hit with the realization that he still didn't know what his specialization results came to. If he was approved for the sim, he had one, one of those last few obscure tests had been a match for him. Everyone had some form of what to expect with this sim. It was based around you, your specialization, your unique history and even psychology. Lucian had been so confused about all of those as of late that this sim could be of anything.

The headset he wore faded to black, shutting out the white room and plunging Lucian into darkness. Geometric shapes and digital mesh formed first, then the textures of the room. A dimly lit chamber, about the size of the actual sim room, circular in shape. The room was composed of their tiers, each tier was lined with control consoles, data terminals and computers of all types. Lucian stood at the lowest tier, large holoscreens angled on the vaulted ceiling above him, a massive tactical display sat immediately in front of him in the center of the room. As the Sim began flushing out details, various command stations could be identified by their placards in front of them, all visible from the center of what must be a Fleet Combat Information Center. Engineering, Medical, Fighter wing, Drone command, Helm, Navigation, Fleet Communications, all the divisions began filling in with simulated personnel, all buzzing and barking in what seemed to be organized chaos.

A simulated female officer, all white fur barring a black streak with eyes red as M-class stars stood by him, saluting. "Admiral, Sir, we will be breaking out of hyperspace in 150 seconds. Forward Formation indicates substantial enemy resistance present. Shall we bring shields to full and bear our main guns immediately?" she looked to Lucian expectantly. Between the simulated Ysanne and being addressed as 'admiral', Lucian couldn't decide what confused him more.

Looking over his own uniform showed him he was indeed the fleet admiral in this sim. "Um yes, Shields to full, you said we had a scout formation already in sublight?" he stammered out.

"Yes sir, Forward Flights Incline-class Light Cruiser and three attendant Lancer-class destroyers are already under heavy fire from the Leonian Fifth Armada. Command flight, including the Skysword, our Stormvale-class heavy cruiser, Avalanche-class carrier cruiser, and ten Lancer-class destroyers will be dropping out as close as we can get to Arct Highpeak momentarily. Second Flight and its Stormvale- Heavy, two Incline light cruisers, six Lancer destroyers will be behind us in another 150 seconds. Forward is reporting 5 enemy heavy cruisers, 7 light, and almost two dozen destroyers. The Imperator-class battleship flag is holding its position to the far side of the battlefield."

Alright, I recognize most of this stuff.

the Skysword was the second ever produced Battleship, a massive vessel with the firepower of a whole fleet. The main guns could shred a light cruiser.

We'd be entering position facing Arct Highpeak though, can't use the main gun like that, not with a Lupine world as a backdrop.

"Helm, the moment we drop, pull us to broadside the fleet, bear our main gun towards the edge of the field. We might be able to get a shot off at that Imperator."

"Aye Admiral!"

Lucian hoped that the Skysword could hit it, if not, that Imperator could do the same kind of damage to my fleet as I could to its. THEY have the planet to their backs, though. The Imperator is probably waiting for us to drop out just so it can target me, I mean the Skysword. Ok. what else. 30 seconds left till subspace....

Perking with inspiration, "Have Second Flight push right ahead to that Imperator, full thrust. Launch all our drone fighters as soon as we enter range!"

We broke hyperspace, the weapons of the Skyswords flanks boar down on the Leonian Cruisers.

Lets see, leonian light cruisers are the carrier ships, those fighters could be a problem with a ship this big in close.

"Focus our batteries on the Arbiter light cruisers, Forward Flight is to concentrate on those heavies."

The massive holoprojector dominating the center of the room flickered with the dozens of little vessels, denoted by color, blue for the Republic, red for the Imperium. Three small red boxes representing Leonian destroyers had gone out since arriving, dozens more dots for corvettes on either side went dark quickly too.

"Sir Forward Flight reports the Icarian has lost all power!" Above, the larger dagger shape for the light cruiser Icarian went grey.

"Second flight is in sublight, engaging the Imperator! Wait she's changing her bearing, thrusters powering, she's taking aim at the colony sir! Based on heading, aim is for the capital."

Another station called out, "Second flight reports shield failure and hull breach of the Traxis! Crew is evacuating now, sir."

Hesitating, Lucian froze, the large rectangle of the Imperator flashed, and a detention marker appeared on the holo of Arct Highpeak. "Order the Traxis to halt evacuations, her crew is to use whatever thrusters she has left and ram that damn battleship!"

It took a moment, but the Traxis lurched forward on the projection, spearing right into the Imperator battleship, destroying the former and disabling the latter.

This caused the swarm of smaller Leonian ships to break off from the Lupine fleet and move to cover the flag. A Leonian heavy went dark, however lit up again as it made a plunge down to the planet, obviously retaliating by performing a death ram of its own. At almost twice the weight of the Traxis, that ship would cause immeasurable damage to the surface of Arct Highpeak.

Lucian could either concentrate all firepower on breaking apart the doomed heavy cruiser, or to attack the retreating leonians. Once grouped up around the flag, they'd be much harder to combat, the flag was still reading as semi-operational. It was a really big ship.

"Focus fire on the deorbiting cruiser, we need to save as many lives as we can! That thing will make this whole world a wasteland." Lucian focused his resolve.These sims werent winnable. Only the best of shit options presented. He was going to save all the lives he could now.

With their chance to regroup, the Leonians obliterated the remainder of Second Flight, leaving Lucian with just the Skysword, Command flight and part of Forward Flight. The cruiser successfully broke apart into manageable pieces, burning up mostly, small impact craters were preferable to planet-killing ones. The Skysword still had its main gun roughly in the direction of the Leonians, maybe...

"Bring our main down on the Imperator, it's a sitting target!"

Detecting this, the Leonians brought one of their own heavy cruisers right into the firing line a moment before the Skysword shuddered, its main gun ripping a cruiser apart rather than the Battleship behind it.

Leonians are suicidally loyal to their lord, he probably didn't even have to give that order.

"Admiral, the enemy flag is attempting to power up its hyperdrive!"

What? Leonians flee from a fight? They havent lost yet. They're flag isnt destroyed, if it can still power hyperdrive, it's in better shape than I thought.

"Scans show the Traxis crippled the enemies main gun and destroyed most of the crew sections, most of the hull breaches are sealing, but the vessel is still at 70% capabilities."

So I defanged it and killed most of its crew. Shit maybe its not running away but something else.

The Skysword rocked to its frames again as another round left the main gun, traveling a third the speed of light. And once more a Leonian heavy cruiser sacrificed itself to protect the flag.

"Are any of our other vessels within range?"

"Not yet, sir! 45 seconds out"

"Sir the battleship is locking its jump, 30 seconds till it's gone."

"How long till we can fire the main again?"

"50 seconds". Too long.

The battleship jumped, a third Leonian heavy cruiser died to the Skyswords main gun, the remaining vessels soon perished to the combined fire of the remainder of Lucians fleet.

Panting in relief, Lucian slouched over the command console. Massaging his face deeply, he realized he was really proud of himself for destroying basically the entire enemy fleet. There was probably tens of millions of casualties on the surface of Arct Highpeak, and no telling the long term damage. Little over half his own fleet survived, which Lucian was sorta shocked by. He knew Lupine vessels generally outperformed Leonian vessels of similar size and role in a one to one comparison, but this was better than he thought.

But the simulation was still running. He wasn't dead.

Standing back up straight, Lucian looked to the second officer whom he had mentally dubbed Fake Ysanne.

"Sir you must be exhausted, would you like for me to take the helm? Fleet Command will need to be informed of what happened, after that you should rest, sir." Directed Fake Ysanne. She wasn't much of a subordinate and more of a "guide" for Lucian, probably added into the sim simply because of the insane learning curse command of a whole fleet like this would entail even to an officer on a fleet command track. To really be in the position Lucian was filling, he'd be a few decades older, at least his father's age, no, older for a full fleet like this.

Lucian nodded to the Fake Ysanne, then walked towards the CIC entrance, the sim then promptly jumped forward to a totally different room, a massive bedroom suite, similar to a Senatorial Suite one might find at the massive hotel resorts catering to the wealthy. Must be the Admirals quarters.

Sure enough, a ships door chime came from behind him. Answering his caller, Lucian found himself muzzle to muzzle with Fake Ysanne once again. Instead of the look of a weary commander, she had tears in her eyes, trailing down the sides of her cheeks getting lost in her white fur.

"Wha, what's wrong Ysanne?"

To his surprise, Fake Ysanne broke out crying and wrapped her paws around him, wailing mournfully. "Their all dead! Everyone! Home is gone!"

"What do you mean everyone's dead, Home where?"

Making eye contact with the slightly shorter Lucian, Fake Ysanne whispered "Alurius. The Homeworld. The Green Jewel. Its gone."

She collapsed into his arms once again pawing him a datapad this time. Apparently, Lucian was ordered by command to keep the Skysword and fleet around Arct Highpeak, anticipating a potential second attack. It was the next day in the sim, they were still in high orbit around Arct Highpeak. Unfortunately, Fleet command found the runaway Imperator, it made a charge at Alurius, and rather than attack from orbit or fight our fleet there, it made a full thrust charge right at the planet's surface. None of the defense fleet could breach its shields in time let alone break it apart, the impact ripped the entire Southern Continent to shreds, the Northern and Eastern were promptly smashed by mountain sized waves and radioactive fallout. Alurius would be a tomb for billions of dead for thousands of years to come.

Lucian dropped the tablet and just stared blankly at the bulkhead in front of him. This was just a sim. Alurius was really fine, the FLR wasnt at war with the Leonians, this was all fake.

The sobs of Fake Ysanne echoed around the room. It felt too real though. The choice to spare Arct Highpeak gave the enemy time to getaway, then destroy the Homeworld.

Any of the colonies would gladly be destroyed if it spared the Homeworld. It was the heart of our people. Our Great Den, our one Perfect Home. It was my choice, MY choice. Could any single choice a fleet commander makes have this kind of repercussion?

The sound of Fake Ysannes tears silences, the warmth of her presence in his arms evaporated, the Admiral's suite around him vanished, replaced by a stark white room with a single door and a single window. Lucian proceeded to the exit, even more internally shattered than when he walked into the simulator room....