Niava Tremaine of the line of M'Twan paused before entering the USI Sol. The modified Centurion class vessel almost filled the small drydock bay, its sleek contours and intricate designs quickening her pulse.

  It had been so many years, too many, since she had experienced the thrill of being on a starship. For a pilot stuck on Tryst station all the time, the most adventure she usually had was the weekly perimeter-scouting run. It had not been exactly the excitement and wonder she had envisioned when joining the Unified Space Intelligence as a navigator.

  "Lt. FG Tremaine?" Niava turned to see who had addressed her. A petty officer, staring enviously at her new rank, displayed prominently on her shoulder comm.

  "Yes?" She smiled at the much younger girl encouragingly, it took time, but anyone with the drive and the dream could go places in USI. "You forgot one of your bags." The girl held it out for her, as if it was a very valuable museum piece.

  "Oh!" Niava blushed furiously. "Thank you so much!" She took the bag, her art supplies probably, how could she have forgotten those?, and gave the petty officer an extra smile. The girl smiled back, as if deciding that the Lt. FG was a normal person after all, and rushed off.

  Which left Niava alone with the Sol again. Just a short climb up the stairs and through the open airlock…and she would be in. Her new home, she was a member of the most coveted elite pilot ship ever created.

  ***

  Corda sat down gracefully, glancing at the others in the briefing room in turn. The new batch of pilots had arrived promptly, if they could be called 'new'. New to Sol Squadron, perhaps, but each had several years to even decades of experience piloting. While Sol was officially a training course, it was more than that. It was the most carefully selected batch of navigators, copilots, and officers to ever be placed on a pilot vessel.

  Two wings made up Sol Squadron so far, and a third was to come.

  "Chief Commander Amonite, are you ready?" The captain broke in gently, signaling her that she needed to brief the group.

  The matrix officer nodded once and stood, making eye contact with every person at the table. Lt. FG Niava Tremaine, a d'borian officer; new to Sol, but with a clean record and several years experience on Tryst. Commander Peter Evington, whom she knew quite well on a social level. Competent and confident, he was an excellent pilot. There were several more in her group, and across the hall the first officer of the Sol was overseeing Wing Commander Alex Archer's briefing of his team.

  Corda spoke and the room fell silent. "The USI Sol is a pilot training vessel. After the last mission through the rubble field of Sahkmet, command has decided it would be better to do some training besides regular combat. Unlike our last mission vs. Jet, which we won by the skin of our teeth, this mission will pit you against many different tests.” With a flip of her almost black hair, she paused.

  "Captain." She said, turning the floor over to Ludwig Von Apfelstrudel, commander of the USI Sol. He smiled congenially and enthusiastically greeted the members of Saber Wing.

  “In three hours exactly, you will all enter the virtual reality suites. Once the medlab personnel get you neurologically connected to the intergalactic web, your mission will be as follows.” Ludwig activated the briefing room screen. "Observe." He paused for greater effect. “The maze of Parazid.”

  The crew saw what at first appeared to be a jumble of green tangled vines, though the scene zoomed in until they could see it was a maze designed for fighter ships. The video panned too fast to catch details, but they could all see that the maze moved. Ludwig did not let them look long. “There are four levels to the maze. In each there are two tasks, You will rendezvous with Mage Wing and you must complete one of the tasks to move on to the next level. If you fail, you have a second chance it you find the other test in the maze. Once through the fourth level, it becomes a simple matter of finding your way out." The captain adjusted his uniform, then continued with a twinkle in his green eyes.

  "There are many dangers in the webs of Parazid, besides the tests themselves. Expect the unexpected, and remember not all battles are won by fighting. You will first have to find the testing gateways to go through them, they are spheres of a plasma looking substance. And if you fail in one, you can find the other for that level. If you fail both…then Tryst command will not be very pleased. They already are searching for a reason to shut Sol down, and this Maze in the Intergalactic Net is terribly expensive to run. I expect you all to make the most of it.” He gave the newest member Navia a long stare, until the d'borian lt. flushed furiously. "You have a question?"

  "Um, yes sir." She squeaked out. She had been going to hold her tongue, but since the captain had asked, she would voice it. "We will be rendezvousing with the other team upon entering the maze, then finding and hopefully passing the first test. Do we then go strait on to the next level?"

  "No, glad you asked." Ludwig motioned Corda to reply to the query.

  "No." Corda stood primly. "After you have completed the first task, you will be removed from the Net and have a one day rest period. There will be no duty shifts during those 36 hours, and you may socialize. You will report back at a designated time and be plugged in again, to launch a second time into the maze for level two. At the end of level four you will not be taken out, but must face all the perils of the maze on your own.

  ***

  Navia headed strait from the briefing room to her quarters. She had to admit to herself that she was very scared. She unpacked hurriedly, there had not been much time before. She could see her fear in her own green eyes when she looked in the mirror: her chocolate hair out of place just so, her cocoa skin showing an unusual pallor, her hands betraying her with a slight tremor.

  "I am gonna be sick.." She moaned, sinking to her bed. It was too firm, brand new, she doubted she would sleep well until it was fixed. Three hours, three hours to sort things out. If she could just forget the nervousness and skip to the adrenaline, it would be ok. Maybe she was not ready, maybe her transferring had been a mistake. Navia thought about Tryst again, the routine, the boredom. Not at all the glamorous picture she had envisioned as a star struck teen. Would she rather go back? No. For better or for worse, she was a member of Sol Squad, Saber Wing. This is what she had dreamed of, and she would fight to beat her fears and take on the universe.

  ***

  Corda seemed more quiet than usual, Charlie noted. The Sol's chief engineer activated his station and checked things out. "All systems check out, and are working perfectly. If we run into any major mishaps don’t blame me, I am just the engineer." He tried to lighten the mood of the room with a smile.

  "Thank you Lt. Johnson." Corda responded. Will be good to know that the Sol is not liable to explode while I am in the maze and not able to keep an eye on you."

  He was not sure if she was joking or not, she always sounded so serious. "No major mishaps will happen, trust me ma'am. Not that much can, it’s the fighters going into the maze, not the Sol herself." Yet then, he would be running the maze, it was mostly his design. So any mishaps the fighters had could be blamed on him, though most of them did not know that he pulled the strings of the maze of Parazid. Corda knew though, and Alex too. As the two wing commanders, they got filled in on most things.

  One of the new officers came onto the bridge, Charlie knew who she was by the folds on the bridge of her nose and the pendant she wore on her neck. Another M'Twan…the most adventurous of the d'borian family lines, the M'Twans seemed to be all over. Royalty to, though none of the actual princes or princesses had joined with USI.

  "Hello…" The woman looked about nervously. Still though, her stance was serene, and while she looked skittish, she did not bolt like a deer. Her glance rested on every officer for several seconds, she had picked up the unnerving habit of seeming to 'read' a person in a moment. "Chief Amonite?"

  Corda looked up from her seated position. "Lieutenant, can I help you?"

  "Yes…I mean, are there any maps of the maze? How will we find our way?"

  Corda raised her eyebrows as if the answer was obvious. “No. What would be the point of having a maze then? It is always shifting, changing, anyway, so a map would do you no good. Stick close to the group though, never get separated."

  Charlie smiled at the newbie, knowing how 'superior' Corda could come off sounding. As skilled as she was, Alex was most everyone's preferred wingleader for his easy going manner. "Welcome to the Sol, kid, just wait a bit. You will fit right in."

  Corda snorted someone skeptically, but Navia smiled at the thought and left the bridge with a spring in her step.

  ***

  Leya struggled with her bags off of the gate pad. No one was there to greet her. Oh well, she'd have to deal with it. Her long black braid somehow got caught in her luggage, which made it difficult to carry the bags. She wondered how all of this was going to play out. Maybe this was an omen of bad things to come. Oh well. Leya was not much of a clutz, and her name meant Lion, Courageous.

  Against all odds she would battle with her luggage to Medlab and her quarters. She dragged her luggage down the corridor. She imagined she looked very odd bent over following her luggage, ramming into walls and such. It all seemed ungraceful, which was also not what she was. Leya was a very graceful person, it came from her father Eryc's dance lessons. Being a hybrid of two races, she had a very peppered culture.

  Leya managed to trip and fall flat on her back. She was mortified. She stared through her emerald green eyes at the ceiling. How embarrassing! Well, at least no one was around...

  A man's face came into Leya’s sight.

  A handsome man, with a devilish grin. He gave her his hand to help her up. “Uh, are you ok?”

  Leya brushed her self off. “I'm..ok. I just had a little trouble with my bags, is all.”

  She bent over, picking up the bags agin, and didn't look very happy about it.

  “Hello, I'm Casey.” He greeted her. "In Saber Wing."

  Leya smiled. “Hi, I'm Leya Chasez, the Chief Medical Officer.”

  Casey whistled lowly. “Any relation to Admiral Eryc Chasez?”

  “Yes, my father!” Leya said, then winced. “Help me! My bags are very heavy, and my hair got caught in one of the bags.”

  “Uh..I'm not sure how to solve this.” He lifted the bags effortlessly, which enabled Leya to stand up straight. “I'll help you to Sickbay.” Casey offered, it was only polite. He grinned.

  “Oh thank you!” Leya exclaimed. “I would greatly appreciate it.”

  He led her out, chatting to her. "So, you're the new Medical Officer. I've known quite a number in my time. You seem nicer than most." He said.

  She smiled. "Well, I suppose that is a compliment." She said, straightening her hair out. "Actually, Chief Reed heads up the counseling department. I run the medlabs."

  Casey suddenly shifted a bag into another hand and helped fix her wayward hair, shifting a lock of it behind her neck. She went slightly red. Casey laughed nervously and withdrew, realizing that the gesture was not exactly kosher.

  Leya was a bit caught off guard by the man's actions, and was still mulling over it even after he left her in the medlab. Leya smiled a bit inwardly. She had a hypnotic way of impressing just about everyone she met. Many men were either in love with her mind, her beauty, or both after meeting with her for only a short time. She got to work familiarizing herself with the layout of Medlab 1 of the USI Sol

  ***

  Corda walked up and down the line of fighter pilots and copilots as they assembled for the preflight briefing. It was Alex, however, who spoke. The two wingleaders had almost a good cop/bad cop thing going. Corda was the strict one, Alex the one who inspired.

  "In fifteen minutes you will each report to Medlab 1. Then you will go to your fighters and power up. The maze, being in four parts, will take many days to get through. After you have completed each level, you will be awoke back here in the Sol, then start the next day at the new level, as no dount you were informed in your primary briefings. After the fourth level, its up to you to find your own way out of the maze, and dock with the virtual Sol." Alex smiled to the group in encouragement and excitement. "Parazid is full of dangers, this cannot be stressed enough. Psychic attacks, combat, mind games, nightmares, expect anything. And the maze itself is deadly, not just the tests themselves."

  Corda took over then, trying to stress the importance of caution. "This is not a high speed job, there is no room for error. If we cannot pass through one of the two tests, you will retry until you do. "So no goofing around in Parazid. It is dangerous. Everything we do is subject to scrutiny by the data police, they are from UTTS and are not just a sim. One funny move and you are virtually dead, though not really dead. You will wake up back here. And watch out for maze sentinels, and above all make sure your fighter does not hit the gold maze corridor walls, most of the maze is green. The gold corridors are almost like the tests, random, and most the time deadly. Shields do no good against the gold." She took a deep breath. "Any questions?"

  Peter Evington rose his hand. "What about the tractor beams?" He asked, referring to some of the fighter's small tractors.

  Corda thought. “Tractor beams are operational, though their effect on the maze corridors I do not know.”

  Geni, copilot of the Xantrum Destroyer, raised her hand. Corda turned to look at her.

  "Yes, Lieutenant?"

  "What effect will weapons and other systems have in the maze?” Lt. Winters asked the question on everyone’s mind. Could they blast through the maze?

  "Our weapons have no effect on the maze itself, any damage we create, the maze repairs. If we run into sentinels, our weapons should have effect. But we would rather avoid entanglements with them." She noticed a copilot who was not paying attention. She turned the floor back over to Alex and walked over.

  Casey was lounging around at the back of the Hangar bay for the briefing. He looked out into space and imagined his first flight, when he had been seven. His father had built a small shuttle for him that was supposed to hover 2 feet off the ground, but he had "adjusted" it and when he activated it next he had sailed to the stars until his father had come out to get him.

  "Lt Casey, am I interupting something?" Corda asked abruptly, startling him out of his reverie.

  Casey made an effort as if to jump to attention, but seemed to change his mind, "Erm, no marm. I was just wondering if you'd like a drink some time?" He lied.

  ~"She'll say no,"~ he thought, ~"But hey, if I never tried...~"

  Corda's eyes flashed slate. "We are on a mission, lt.. Socialization should be at the back of your mind." She said firmly. Walking back to the front of the line, she turned back. "I never drink." Corda informed him curtly, though smiling slightly. "Medlab 1 in ten minutes. Remember, you will be in the Intergalactic Web, the fighters have been created in the web. Your original fighters remain onboard, the ones in the web will be digital constructs. If they blow up, they are gone, but your real fighters will still be there." She looked at everyone pointedly. "However, these cost a lot to make, expensive toys, so do not break them, we would like to reuse them is possible without paying for new ones." Corda straitened her uniform. "If there are no more questions, I suggest you get ready to go to Medlab."