The following morning, Melbourne found himself packed into an old fashioned maglev train bound for Fort Relecon Military Academy.
"This is the 'House of the Republic and Main Steet'." said a smooth, automated voice over the train's intercom. "Next stop, First Street and Hanging Gardens."
The train left downtown Olympia and began a circuitous path around the city with many stops in between downtown and Fort Relecon.
Melbourne put some earphones in and blasted music in his ear to keep the depression out of his skull by numbing his thoughts with noise. Luckily, Melbourne didn't feel any absolute need to drink alcohol anymore. Either he didn't have an addictive personality or the Aclito System delivered him immunity to substance addiction. Either way, Melbourne's depression from the job last week was slowly fading and it seemed to be enough to simply drown his mind in heavy metal music or to keep his mind busy on some project. Surely his upcoming school work would help in this regard.
After about thirty minutes, the train stopped and the automated voice chimed in.
"This is the Sagan Street and Astronomical Society." said the automated voice of the train's intercom. "Next stop, Fort Relecon and Admiral Way."
Melbourne woke up from his trance and grabbed his bags as he heard the warning that they were approaching his destination.
Standing up, he found himself in a large group of teenagers about his age waiting to disembark, probably to enroll in the Military Academy as well.
As the train came to a stop, the voice chimed in again.
"This is Fort Relecon and Admiral Way. Next stop, Jeremiah Street and the New Hagia Sophia."
Melbourne disembarked with the rest of the students and a few uniformed soldiers who scattered among their crowd.
Around the train station were many statues of famous generals and admirals who had made their mark on Martian history. General Rodger Jereny was displayed, who led the final assault against the Albokan Union in 2150, securing the global hegemony of the Martian Republic. He was considered one of the greatest generals in Martian history by most modern scholars, but Melbourne believed that just to be founder romanticism. The first chancellor of the Republic in 2071 was similarly deified as was George Washington, the first president of the United States of America whose constitution was reformatted into the Martian Republic's laws excluding any clause or amendment that would deny them the right to enforce the universal Artilect Protocol. Also displayed were General Rays Velatia who was decorated for his exemplary service against the Second Hellas Rebellion of 2314 and Admiral Veran Pitkin who led the First Martian Fleet in a brief war against Lunarian Republic who became a vassal state to Mars in the aftermath in the year 2378. There were a number of other admirals and generals who Melbourne did not recognize, but the most dignified statue was of General Vantus of the Terran Space Force who was deified all over Sol in every nation. He was the last surviving commander who participated in the war and sent out the famous Vantus Broadcast to inform the original colonies that Earth was no more. He then flew to Luna and landed his ship there, dying of old age with his crew at about the turn of the 22nd Century. It was a story everyone in Sol knew well from grade school.
"Hello, everyone!" called out an elderly woman with a microphone. "All those enrolling in the Fort Relecon Naval Academy, please file around me!"
The students separated from the soldiers and a very small number of civilian tourists not enrolling in the school who went their separate ways.
"Welcome to Fort Relecon Naval Academy, the first naval military Academy ever established within the Martian Republic!" announced the woman. "Fort Relecon is also a military naval base with its own spaceport reserved exclusively for launches to and from the Navy's orbital shipyards. Who can tell me about the namesake and history of this base? Anyone! Anyone at all?"
One timid teenager raised his hand in the crowd, Melbourne looking at him in shock.
"Is that who I think it is?" thought Melbourne, instantly navigating through the thick crowd to get closer to him.
"Yes, you!" said the woman.
"Fort Relecon is named after Admiral Relecon, the first admiral of the Martian Navy." said the boy proudly, eliciting a few snickers. "The base was founded in the year 2205, the university acting as an alternative to basic training with a focus on turning cadets into both effective fighters and intelligent officers."
"Very good, young man. I may just have to put in a recommendation to get you extra merit points to start off your school year with. Alright, everyone, I'm going to show you to campus and then give you a brief tour before we process everyone, confirm their identities and show them to their new dormitories. You will have room mates and I hope you don't mind. You will be required to live in the dorms for the duration of your time in school just as soldiers must camp together when they are on the front lines."
As Melbourne pushed to meet the young man who had spoken, he figured out it was exactly who he thought it was.
"Jeremy Olan, I didn't think I'd see you here brother!" exclaimed Melbourne in excitement.
Jeremy turned in confusion before his eyes brightened up as he recognized Melbourne, his sparring partner during his first month aboard the Seeker.
"Melbourne Acliate!" exclaimed Jeremy, embracing him in a bear hug. "You're attending the Academy too? I guess we never really did talk about our plans after the internship, did we? You becoming a pilot?"
"It's what I thought to do." said Melbourne skeptically. "My expertise in robotics and engineering is apparently valued too."
"Your experience in combat is as well." said Jeremy.
"Shh!" exclaimed Melbourne, whispering into Jeremy's ear. "Those details are classified, remember?"
"Oh yeah." said Jeremy, his head bowing down in embarrassment.
"Now, this street is known as Admiral Way!" exclaimed the old lady who was giving the tour. "This road has a rich history itself independent of the military base and far predating it."
***
The tour continued for about an hour before the new students were finally taken to the main building where they sat in a waiting room to go over their enrollment papers.
After about another strenuous hour of waiting, the receptionist finally called.
"Melbourne Acliate!"
Melbourne smiled and walked into the back room where a muscular man in a Navy General's uniform beckoned him to sit down.
"Good morning, Mr. Acliate. My name is Admiral Morton, and I will be your dean. Don't worry yet about formal military procedures for addressing an officer. You will receive training in those matters and basic drill and ceremony over the course of the next week. Please, just sit down. Please give me your identification card as well."
Melbourne sat down and touched his smartwatch to a scanner which prompted a holographic display to show up.
Admiral Morton looked at it and nodded, confirming its validity, then ran through a load of paperwork, signing off on a few things.
"Alright, here is a stylus." said Admiral Morton. "I will need you to sign a few holographic papers yourself."
Melbourne did his own share of enrollment paperwork before finally being done, then let Admiral Morton continue his work.
Finally, Morton stopped and smiled at Melbourne.
"Everything seems to be in order, Mr. Acliate. I must say your resume and scholastic records are outstanding. I expect that you will make a very valuable addition to this school. Your dorm room is 124 on the first floor of dorm building B. I hope you do well here. Here is your key fob. You may go there now and take the rest of your day off. Your homeroom is in Building G in room 270 on the second floor. Please be there at 8 A.M. sharp tomorrow morning. Thank you and have a pleasant day."
Melbourne was prompted to touch his watch again to the scanner which resulted in a small software script being transferred to his watch which he could then touch against the scanner outside his door. He was already used to using a key fob like this for his hotel room given by the generosity of Arian Horizons, so he knew the drill.
"Thank you, Admiral Morton." said Melbourne politely before leaving.
As Melbourne entered his dorm room about twenty minutes later, he was greeted with a pleasant surprise.
"You're my room mate!" exclaimed Melbourne in shock.
"You are mine?" asked Jeremy Olan. "I think this is going to be a good year after all. Now that I've helped you master ZG Martial Arts, you can help me master regular old terrestrial 'Martian' Martial Arts! I have much less experience in that, man."
Just as Melbourne began to get comfortable, a loud knock on his door resounded through the dorm.
"Cadet Acliate, please come to the door!" said a commanding female voice.
Melbourne opened to see a black haired Lieutenant who looked to be in her mid to late 20s escorted by two sergeants.
"Yes, ma'am?" asked Melbourne. "May I help you?"
"Yes, Mr. Acliate." said the woman, her voice making him think of a deadly cobra about to strike its prey. "My name is Lieutenant Lavender. Can you come with me? I have a few questions I would like to ask you, if you don't mind."