In the theory class, instructor Sen taught us specifically the necessary steps to take flight. First was starting the shuttle, then engage the flight systems, then check all systems to see if they're running well and also the energy tank, then commence flight, and last but not least once the ground level is at thirty feets, disengage landing gears.
"Simulation failed" said the robotic voice as numerous red lights flashed on the holograms. Well if you want to know what happened, a minute ago after I disengaged the landing gears, the next thing was to pilot the vessel manually which is to say I'm very bad at steering.
As I took control with the steering wheel, the shuttle began to wobble mid flight until I eventually crashed through a dive to the ground. For a moment as the shuttle dived towards the ground, I forgot it was a simulation and almost panicked.
"If you crash, try again and again until you reach the destination and land safely" instructor Sen's voice came in. 'Hold on wait, there's a destination?, how the hell did I not know of that?'. Maybe I could try asking the AI or something so I tried my luck, "where's the destination?" I spoke. The destination is two hundred miles away from here at @#$&@#$ coordinates.
Hearing that I started the simulation again going through the same steps and taking control of the steering, which is to say I did better than before but still crashed nothingness. So I did as instructor Sen said and tried again and again. It wasn't on the forty second try that I managed to grasp what I was doing wrong.
I was dragging the steering wheel a few tens of degrees more than I was supposed to, which sometimes makes the shuttle to somersault in mid air before crashing to the ground. So I started the steps again up to disengaging the landing gears until I took control of the steering, then I slowly pushed the lever forward before I pulled the yoke to about thirty degrees.
The shuttle started moving slowly transitioning from rest to fifty kmph and kept increasing while I kept my hands on the yoke steady as the altitude increases before pushing the yoke back to normal as the altitude reached thirty thousand feet.
This was it, the feeling of being in control, and I'm liking it the more as I felt as the shuttle stabilized under my control. The holograms showed a trail to the destination which I tried my best to follow, I got within five hundred meters to the landing point but the problem now was that I was still at about twenty seven thousand feet from ground level and you know what happened next?, I flew past the landing point and crashed into the mountain behind it.
"Simulation failed!, Simulation failed!" The red alert kept blaring on the front screen. Just as I was about to begin another one, instructor Sen's voice came through; "Alright cadets, out of the pod, your time is over".
'Well I'll take a try the next class another time' I thought as the entrance of the pod opened. As I went out, I witnessed the other cadets also coming out of their pod. "Hey dude, how did you do" asked Owen the moment he sighted me. "Good, I guess" I replied.
After we all came out, instructor Sen led us out from the simulation room before she turned to face us, "while some of you have done incredibly well with some landing at the destination, like Aurora De Silva, Gabriel Snow, Lily Greatwoods, Damien Ashbourne, Quinn Darkheart, Hori Tokito, Ashley Wellington, and Bobby Hart" she listed a bunch of cadets from her holographic screen. 'From the looks of it all those she called, it's not their first time piloting a shuttle, most likely they were thought by their families already.
"Some are plain horrible, with some cadets not even managing to take flight as if they haven't been listening to anything I've said in class so far" she said while looking at some areas but she did not call names, suprisingly her gaze fell on me also, no not me but Owen who was beside me. 'Well If its him then I'm not suprised considering the way he acts bored in class, it's fair if he didn't understand a thing she was saying.
"I'll have you know that you better take this seriously as during your mid terms, this class won't be taking a written test but instead a practical test" instructor Sen said with her apathetic voice. "Also you can come here for practice during the weekends" she continued.
'Well that's smooth, if I'm correct which I most certainly I'm, the midterms will be in three weeks so I still have time to stick the landing, it seems I have my work cut out for me this weekend'.
"Now class dismissed" she said before disappearing, though It was just pure speed. Apparently all instructors in Nebula Academy are diamond ranks. That's crazy, like some people die without ever being able to reach gold rank and every random instructor here is a diamond rank. It's why even the scions of the great families are not rude to the instructors like one would expect.
As we were on our way to the combat grounds, "You couldn't even manage to take flight?" I asked Owen. "What do you mean?, Was it my damn fault that the pod was faulty?" he exclaimed. "Hehe just admit it, in the instructor's words, you are plain horrible in piloting a shuttle" I said without skipping a beat. "Hey, are you bipolar by any chance" he asked. I knew what he meant my expression and demeanor had changed from the emotionless one it was earlier this morning to the relaxed one I had the past few days. "Hey, you're spacing out" he said breaking me out from my inner monologue.
"Nice try changing the topic but it still remains that you're unable to even take flight" I said with an expression that said 'i got you'. "I was not and it was true" he argued. "Yeah I get it, it's your imagination" I replied.