Chapter Three: The Admission Order from the Stars

outer ring, training cities along the inner ring, and a vast mech arena suspended at its center. Young pilots from hundreds of worlds came here for the most brutal selection process in human space. When the Ninth Fleet shuttle landed, the arena was in the middle of a freshman exhibition match. Dozens of training mechs clashed beneath a transparent dome at high speed. Cadets filled the stands. Rankings scrolled across the main screen. First: Rafe Calder, synchronization rate ninety-one percent. Second: Mira Kane, synchronization rate eighty-nine percent. Third: Ilya Soren, synchronization rate eighty-eight percent. Then the broadcast cut in. "Special transfer cadet arriving." Every eye turned toward the landing zone.