The twin suns of the Arkanis system reflected brightly against the gleaming metal plating of the newly-minted orbital campus of the Arkanis Naval Academy. The behemoth station had been constructed to replace the aging facilities that the historic academy had been consigned to for several centuries, with state-of-the-art features and facilities.
To celebrate its inauguration, Confederacy High Command and the faculty of the Arkanis Naval Academy had dually sponsored a training exercise aboard the academy, using the new simulators designed to deliver a realistic combat experience near-indistinguishable from the real experience. This training exercise would serve to keep the tactical minds of the various officers in Naval Command sharp and adaptive, while also highlighting any weaknesses or flaws that would have to be ironed out before they were placed in any real combat.
Aboard were several alumni of the Academy as well, no doubt a testament to the reputation of Arkanis Naval Academy, as well as a small political maneuver by the Academy's board of directors themselves, a tactical ploy to advertise themselves to the higher-ups of Confederacy command. Either way, it promised to be an educational and exciting performance, the latter assumption supported by the ring of cadets preparing to view the three-way engagement from the Concourse, with multiple screens and holoprojections ready to capture the brawl in meticulous detail.
But for the actual combatants in their various simulated bridges, the experience would be nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Indeed, the only reason that they would be able to tell that they weren't in real combat was the fact that they held the knowledge that it was all a simulation -- otherwise, they might've guessed otherwise. Individual bridges had been simulated, using a mix of both physical and holo-imaging technology to perfectly replicate each tiny facet of a bridge. They were staffed, too, by the same bridge and crew that would be operating a given ship as well, gunners situated in their own pods, and 'droids' controlled by sophisticated artificial intelligence programmed to respond as a crew of droids would.
After all, combatants had been given the time needed to prepare and situate themselves, their 'shipboard' comms would sound: an announcement from the Academy's Senior Administrator of Warfare, Voro Navalai.
"Officers of the Confederacy Naval Command, the Arkanis Naval Academy welcomes you to today's combat simulation. We hope that today's exercises will be educational and informational," his deep voice boomed over the comm systems, "and that we will all be able to walk away having learned something. Before we begin, I will give a brief overview of what rules and situations exist."
"A detailed map and various projections of the space that you will be maneuvering into today has just now been transmitted to the various corresponding systems in your ships. Combat today will be organized into three different fleets, designated by the point at which they will begin combat at; Fleet Aurek will comprise of Fleet Marshal
Anashla Deshal
, Commander
Sasha Fox
and Commander Cazo Thraos's forces, Fleet Besh will comprise of High Marshal
Kiff Brayde
and Commander
Verin Oldo
's forces, and Fleet Cresh comprising of Fleet Marshal Vemric Keldra's forces. The command structure of each fleet has been deliberately made different to study the differing effect of each structure, and as you all know, your forces do not comprise of anything more than twenty-five-thousand meters in total length.""The objective of the simulation will be total victory over your opponents. For the sake of intrigue, Fleet Besh's movement has been artificially restricted to the inner boundaries of the asteroid field, while Fleets Aurek and Cresh will have full and unrestricted access to the entirety of the simulation. There will be no 'points' system, and whichever's forces left standing will be declared today's victor."
"Good luck, Officers, and good shooting."
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