Interstellar Age
Chapter 7 The Leaderboard

Because Erich had showed up late at the Academy, he had missed half a day's worth of classes. Thus, he only had to attend a few more lectures before the time arrived to retire to the night. The Naval Academy on Germania was the largest and most prestigious of all Naval Academies within the Germanic Star-Empire.

The campus was practically the size of a city, and housed millions of young cadets. Most of which were currently off world visiting their wives for the summer. It was their duty to have as many children as possible, and because of this, contraceptives were mostly outlawed, with a few exceptions being made for specialized careers such as spies who infiltrated other interstellar civilizations.

These spies were some of the few men, permitted to engage in sexual relations with other species, but the requirement was that they would have to set their NeuroLink to prohibit procreation during their encounters.

Not that any of this applied to Erich, who just wanted to get something to eat for the night before retiring to the barracks. Thus, he activated the grid and looked for a good place to grab a bite, which he found not far from his current location.

As Erich walked through the streets, he saw another holographic projection of the up-and-coming idle Erika Krieger, which displayed one of her recent performances. Though he had to admit, the woman was gorgeous even by Germanic standards, and was perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes upon. He couldn't help but sigh as he tried to ignore the sounds of the pop music, which he found to be nothing but irritating.

Eventually, he made his way to a small diner, where a few other mutants like himself were sitting in a booth. He recognized all three of them from his galactic politics course. When Erich entered the facility, they immediately waved him over, and though he did not really want to associate with other mutants, he figured it would at the very least be polite to talk with them. After sitting down at the table, the group of three young men introduced themselves.

"Hey you're the new guy who was late to class, weren't you? I'm Fredrik Andersen, and these two assholes are Dolf van Dyne and Karl Eikarsson, so what the hell kept you away for so long? And why is it so hush-hush?"

Erich did not dare tell these men that he had broken several laws the night before, whose combined punishment would surely be met with the death penalty, and instead he decided to be deliberately vague in his introduction.

"My name is Erich Jaeger by the way… As for what kept me from arriving on time, I was held up by a foreign diplomat, I can't go too much into detail about why she kept me for so long as it is a personal matter, and she asked me not to tell anyone."

There was a look of disappointment on all the guys' faces as they heard Erich's explanation. Fredrik was a handsome young man with cyan hair and blood-red eyes, but aside from that, there were no other major mutations to speak of.

In fact, the entire Germanic Race was considered physically attractive by most humanoid races. And by the standards of 21st century humans, they were all the equivalent of supermodels, with the most attractive of the Germanic Race being the on par with divine figures.

Part of the genetic enhancement that every Germanic citizen went through during their birth altered their DNA to remove them from any imperfections. As a result, genes that resulted in unattractive traits like baldness, poor eyesight, ugliness, body hair, pre-disposure to weight gain, small breasts, small male genitalia, and any other number of physical flaws, had been entirely removed from the Germanic gene pool, and were instead replaced with the genes that were more desirable.

In fact, 99.9% of the Germanic Race fit into the mold of the perfect "Aryan" as envisioned by the National Socialist German Workers's Party who were in many ways the ideological and spiritual predecessors of the Germanic Star-Empire.

Those who were mutated as a result of an error most commonly found in experimental high grade gene serums like the one Erich was injected with, and were determined to be unfit for termination, were like the men sitting in this room, flawless in every way, except for a lack of what was considered by society to acceptable hair and eye color. Which, as far as the Germanic Star-Empire was concerned, consisted of either blonde or red hair with blue eyes.

Upon seeing the dejected expressions on his classmate's faces, Erich sighed and shrugged his shoulders, before typing in an order on the grid for what he desired to eat at this café. Within a few minutes, a robot came out and served the drink and meal of Erich's choice, which was a burger, fries, and a shake.

While biting into his burger, Erich noticed something peculiar in the uniforms of the other cadets. Something which he did not yet have on his own. It was a small hexagon on the breast pocket with what appeared to be a digital image which displayed a unique number. For example, Dolf's rating was 3,257,982, while Karl's was much lower at 1,397,527 and Fredrik's was at a whopping 12,957,335.

If he thought back upon it, the young men who had bullied him on the transit also had numbers on their chests, which were much higher than Dolf and Karl's. Thus, Erich could not help but ask just what they represented.

"By the way, what are those numbers on the breast pocket of your uniforms?"

The three men exchanged glances with one another before explaining in detail just what the images represented.

"That's right, you were late and missed your first day at the Academy. The thought didn't even cross my mind that you didn't know about the leaderboard. Essentially, the number on our chest is our place on the leaderboard.

Every student in the academy is ranked on it, and it changes in real time to reflect one's position. It takes into account all of your activities on campus. Whether it is your academic performance, or your capability in the simulators, or even your physical fitness levels. Since you missed your first day and a half, the AI probably hasn't registered you yet. By tomorrow morning, you will see your place in your uniform's breast pocket."

This sparked a number of questions in Erich's mind, which he was quick to ask about.

"So what do I get for having a high score on the leaderboard?"

Dolf was quick to inform Erich about the benefits of having a high score on the leaderboard in an almost condescending tone.

"The higher your rank on the leaderboard, the more likely you are to get into a better specialty school. By now, you should already be aware that most cadets spend a full four years at the academy before going into specialized training for the role they were selected to serve in.

However, based upon your performance at the academy, you can either get sent to a run-of-the-mill specialty school or an elite one. There is also a similar system at your specialty school, where based upon what percentile you graduate in will determine your rank and unit upon entering service.

So, for example, say you graduate in the top 1% of all cadets here at the Naval Academy, and then go on to graduate at the top 1% in your elite specialty school. You are pretty much guaranteed to be given the rank of Lieutenant, and depending on your specialization, you might have to go through additional training to become a special forces operative. Where you will also be judged based upon performance. By the way, what is your specialty?"

Erich wore a bitter smile as he informed his new classmates of just what role the government had given him to serve in during his years in the military.

"I've been assigned to the role of a starfighter pilot…"

The three men grimaced when they heard the specialty that Erich was given. And looked at him as if they were in the presence of a dead man. This was something that Erich already expected to happen, and could only shake his head as he accepted his lot in life. However, Karl spoke up for perhaps the first time since Erich sat down, giving the silver-haired lad some solid advice.

"If I were you, I would do everything I can to score in the top 1% both here in the naval academy, and in your specialty school. We may be mutants, but we have a natural advantage over the rest of these fuckers. While they're out plowing their wives during the summer, we have to attend more courses. Which not only gives us a head start, but allows us to graduate earlier.

Use these next two years to climb your way to the top of the leaderboard, and if you do manage to graduate in the top 1% of both the academy, and your elite flight school, you will get sent to special forces training, where if you graduate at the top of that, then you can join an elite squadron like Black Sun and perhaps even lead your own wing of fighters.

Although those guys participate in the most dangerous space-borne operations of the entire military, they have the highest survival rate, because they are given the best ships, and have the best training. They also tend to receive the best rewards. I can't confirm the validity about what I'm about to say, but I heard from a rather reliable source about a Black Sun pilot who was a mutant like us, but because of his achievements on the battlefield, the party permitted him to have a wife, and children, albeit they closely monitored the genetic line of the guy to ensure that there were no further mutants being born. But still, that is something most of us mutants won't be able to obtain in our lives.

I know I won't be able to. There is not much room for fancy medals or acts of heroism when you are destined to become an engineering officer. But my odds of surviving are significantly higher than yours. Even if we do get cloned after we die, that is not something I wish to experience. After all, there is a philosophical argument to be made. If you die, and your memories are transplanted into the body of a clone, are you really the same person? That's not a debate I want to have with myself. It is enough to give any man an existential crisis."

Erich could not help but agree with everything Karl had said. From getting into an elite flight school, and becoming a special forces pilot, to not wanting to die and suffer an existential crisis when his memories were transplanted into a clone's body.

Thus, in that moment, he decided that he would do everything in his power to reach the top of the leaderboard over the next two years of his life.

---

After sharing a meal with several of his classmates. Erich returned to the barracks, where he entered the room he was given. Though the barracks were referred to by such a term, they were anything but what one might think of when first hearing the word. In fact, the rooms which the cadets were given, while utilitarian in design, like just about everything else in the Empire, were about the size of a studio apartment.

The room had everything Erich needed to be comfortable over the next two years of his life, and thus, he was quite happy with his new home. After stripping out of his uniform and taking a shower, he climbed into bed, where he planned to get some shuteye. That is, until he checked his messages on the grid, to see that his mother had attempted to call him over one hundred times since he had first landed in Germania.

Just when he was about to contact the woman, he saw that she was already calling him. With a deep breath, Erich prepared himself for the scolding of a lifetime as he accepted his mother's call.

"Hey mom-"

Immediately, the woman interrupted her son, as she began to scream at him with all the strength she could muster.

"Don't hey mom me, young man! Do you have any idea how worried I was!?! It has been an entire day since you were supposed to land in Germania, and yet, despite the fact that I told you to contact me every night before you went to bed, I have heard nothing from you, my own beloved son!

I feared the worst. Perhaps your transport had gotten sucked into a black hole, or maybe you were kidnapped by your father's rivals! Speaking of your father, he seems to be in a pissy mood whenever I ask him about whether or not you are alright, but he won't tell me why! Don't tell me you are already causing trouble there in the capital? Just what on earth have you been up to?!?!"

Erich was at a loss for words. It had not even been twenty-four hours since he first left for the capital of the Empire, and already so many things had happened to him. First, he had committed a capital offense by hooking up with a representative of the Great Oni Empire, and then he had been bullied on the transit before getting a fellow cadet expelled.

Finally, he had gone through half a day's classes, and just now learned about the complex system for which all cadets were judged by, one that would determine his future prospects during his tenure in the military. There were too many things on his mind for him to even come up with a proper response to his mother's scolding. For which he could only apologize.

"I'm sorry mother, truly I am. I should have contacted you when I first landed. I won't make excuses. It's just that I got tied up in a complex matter with a diplomat from a foreign empire, and as a result, my last twenty-four hours have been pretty hectic. I actually planned to get some shuteye when you called me. Can we talk about this tomorrow after I have rested for a bit?"

Though Krista was furious about her son's behavior, she could see that he was exhausted, and thus sighed heavily before agreeing to continue her scolding on the following day.

"Alright, get some sleep, and remember to contact me tomorrow, or I will be even more furious!"

Erich smiled and nodded his head, before hanging up on his mother, but not before leaving some parting words.

"Of course, I love you, mom."

After saying this, he hung up the phone, and fell to sleep, while thinking about Yumi's naked body.