12 hours had passed and Stella was already halfway through putting together her little espionage device. She had found a camera module in the pile of crap and was trying to incorporate the vision sensors into the intricate design of her glossy, ivory machine. Albeit the oversized, round lens was a little disproportionate to its overall shape, giving the supposedly menacing device a goggle-eyed appearance, Stella couldn't care less. Function over form, she thought, adding a concealed razor blade inside the device's morphable bodice. 

From the corner of her eyes, she saw a hand reaching over the screwdriver on her work station.

"Hey, can I use this?" The borrower asked, his voice lethargic.

Stella recognized the husky sound and froze again. The little creation had consumed so much of her attention she didn't notice that the Admiral's work station was right next to hers. But things were different this time, she was more prepared. After a long pose, the assassin took a deep breath and replied boldly.

"Yes."

She turned to face him, only to see that her target had already moved on to borrow the tool from the boys behind them. 

"Oh, isn't this the dock girl from the other day?" The screwdriver lender couldn't hide his excitement, as always. "Didn't know that you were in the same cohort, did you come from Hephae as well?"

"I'm from Earth." Stella put on a smile to match J-Hope's energy, she glanced over the boys' table and retaliated with a question. "What are you guys making?"

"I'm building a portable device to fix things in outer-space." J-Hope lifted up the structure of what looked like a robotic arm. He then wrapped his arm around the boy working right behind Stella. "My man over here is building the prototype of an advanced water filtration system for spaceships. Dude is nuts."

No wonder these 2 kids from Hephae were at the top of their class. Coming from an artificial planet, their main concerns were clearly influenced by the need to maintain life in space.

"Hey V, what are you making?" J-Hope tiptoed to see what the other boy had been cooking up in his work station. "We're all roommates by the way, along with this quiet kid. Jimin's not with you today?"

"He signed up for Energy Utilization." V ran his large hand across the bed head, he seemed concerned about his project upon seeing the Hephaen boys' products. "I don't know what I'm making man...something for my mom I guess. She has dementia so she can't do much by herself."

The other 3 were not expecting that bombshell to drop. A demented mother? This was way too cliche even for a lifetime original story starring an all-good Earthean protagonist in the most propagandistic daytime program. If Stella hadn't known his future, she might have believed in the good act. She chuckled, the internal skeptic in her saw this as a deliberate scheme to gain sympathy from his classmates. The Admiral had been known for his manipulative skills, Stella told herself not to underestimate her enemy just because he was younger.

"How about you?" The yet to be Admiral quickly changed the subject, he examined the lines of carefully arranged components laying on Stella's tables.  By some miraculous chance, she had managed to scavenge the most hazardous materials out of the debris pile. Nobody knew where she drew those sharp looking blades and intricate needles from. "What's you deal?"

Her deal was of course, to kill the very person who had just asked that question.

"It's a shaving device."

Now even RM - who had been busy modelling his water system - looked up.

"F-for you?" J-Hope asked, looking up and down to find the use of such a device on the girl in front of him. He blushed.

"No silly, it's for my dad." And the sister. "His moustache could use some trimming." And shaving off.

V raised his eyebrows. "What do you need the needle blades for?"

To take care of your artery. Cackled Stella, internally. "Pimples popping. Nodule draining. Whatever you call it. It's always so, satisfying to see the blood flows, I mean, the pus erupting out of an inflamed zit. Don't you agree?"

She spoke of the topic in such a marvelled expression that it gave the other boys a sour look on their faces. The 3 quickly got back to whatever they were doing and Stella was happily left to her own devices, she continued working on the goggle-eyed ball which would be named Sphere of Fear. A name she would later regret on even saying out loud.

Now and then Stella would change her working angle so she could sneak a look or two at her target. V had been struggling with the project for quite a while now. He seemed to know his basics, but unlike the Hephaen boys, he lacked the fluency that was often brought about by experience and field practice. Stella felt a satisfying grin growing on her face as she watched the Universe's most feared terroriser struggled with a crooked robot pet. 

So he wasn't as omnipotent as they had painted him out to be after all.

Which ...would make her mission a lot less cumbersome. She added that to her thoughts, before they spun into some other weird sympathetic cycles.

The crowd grew thinner as the clock struck twelve. Most students had already gone back to their dorms to rest, some even brought their sleeping bags over to stay the night. Stella heard her stomach rumble, complaining to its owner who hadn't gone out for a bite in the past few hours.

"Hey, do you want to go for supper with us? It's about time we leave this neurotic place." J-Hope asked, casually, not expecting the cold and somewhat bizarre girl to agree.

"Sure." Intel for dinner it is. "Where are you guys heading?"

"There is this 24 hours diner near the water fountain . It's a 10 minutes walk, I hope you're not too hungry."

Stella smiled. Starvation was no strange friend to her. Not ever since Earth blew up, once again courtesy of the boys walking next to our girl.

"I'm J-Hope by the way. This is RM, that's V. How do we call you again?"

"Stella Whitlock." She smiled. " Are you sure we're allowed to roam around? What if someone cheated and brought in, say, extra components?"

"The Academy takes great pride in Integrity." RM started speaking to her for the first time, his voice deep and raspy. "People can cheat of course, but at the risk of expulsion. Not worth a try."

"Besides there aren't any point in overshooting your class. The programs are different for all the classes, you can slowly work your way up the ranks or fall behind. It's a marathon really."

They reached the waterfall and Stella could see their destination in sight. She fought the urge to put her hand inside the bubbling water. "So I'm not wrong to assume that you all aim for the highest rank?"

J-Hope tittered, pointing at RM. "This guy doesn't even need to aim, or try. But I have to, for the sake of our scholarships." He pushed open the diner's entrance. "And V over here intends to make captain, Commander School only takes S's and A's."

Oh, he'd make captain alright, more than that even. Stella muttered.

"Captain of the Artemis." V corrected the other boy. "It's important where I get assigned to, only the top 30 can choose."

"Why the Artemis?" Stella questioned, this piece of information was entirely new to her.

"That's not something you need to know." He brushed the question off and picked up one of the metal trays near the vending station.

Stella was again, appalled by her target. When did she even come close to piss him off? She stood still as V and RM proceeded to scan their fingerprints for identification.

"Don't mind that guy. Rumours has it that he's afraid of girls. I've never seen him spare more than a word on anyone carrying 2 X chromosomes." J-Hope scanned his thumb, the vender screen responded by showing the available food options based on his disposition. "Ugh. Boxed food again?"

"Tastes better when you remember that it's free." RM teased his roommate.

The screen flashed to a user-friendly interface as Stella identified herself. She chose a protein dense meal with a myriad of nutritional side dishes, and of course 3 different kinds of dessert. The paid options were expensive, but the Whitlock family did not spare any expenses to accommodate to our assassin's need. She then proceeded toward the boys' table, catching sight of V handing over his apple to the other two.

"Gravity treats." His smile widened, only to shrink again as Stella approached. The empty seat in front of V seemingly grew colder with every step she took, but our assassin had faced far worse opponents. With an ostensible grin on her face, she pulled the diner's chair slowly away from the table and sat down at an even more irritable pace.

It was J-Hope who managed to break the silence once again. He chuckled. "That's a lot of desserts. Can you even finish them all?"

"She doesn't have to." V looked at her from the sharp corners of his eyes. He proceeded to mood kill despite the other boys' effort to have their dinner in peace. "The Whitlocks are well capable of discarding any non-valuable good standing in their way, let alone a piece of cake."

Ah, so boy had beef with girl's family. Now that explained the pubescent attitude. The logic behind his hostility gave Stella a sense of relief, at least there wasn't any suspicion when it came to her cover.

"So your house must be full of presumptuous pricks?" Her knife dug through the tub of cream cheese and moved on to cover her bagel with a thick layer of topping. She dragged the knife slowly as if the spread was V's brain matter instead. "Your parents forgot to teach you not to judge a book by its...publisher?"

"You!" V stood up, his chair pushed away and its wooden back fell on the floor, hard. He was about to retaliate when a stack of sketches came out of nowhere and landed on his pretty, flushed face.

"This kid! The food already tastes like shit without all this crap you're pulling." J-Hope complained, to Stella's surprise he gave our future Admiral's face another smacking. "Now sit down and finish up so we can go back to work."

V didn't seem to be bothered by the playful act of the older boy, Stella's words definitely made much more of an impact. "You are just as unbearable as your father." He grunted.

Now that was an insult. Stella thought.

V then packed up the boxed food and pulled his chair back on its feet. Despite the Earthean background, his meal was identical to those of the other Hephaens, the apple was probably a rare treat for himself. "I'll see you guys back at the dorm."

The boy then stormed off before the rest of the party could react. The Hephaens shrugged their shoulders and resumed eating as if they had gotten used to these episodes. "These Earthean kids can be so emotional, no offense to you over there. Please don't flip this table anytime soon."

"They survived the GonAie war, that was probably his PTSD acting," RM said, he managed to finish his dinner despite being in the middle of a commotion. "He could have been one of their prisoners on Earth, considering his background."

"You talk as if we weren't survivors of war ourselves, exiled from Earth much?" J-Hope went through the motions and he too finished the hyper-processed goos from his box. "I still don't understand why we can't all return."

"The ruling party claimed that the planet was in ruins after the war, and that repopulation would be a long-term game." RM looked around the room and sighed. "But judging by what I've seen in the past few days, it doesn't feel like Earth's condition is to blame."

Fourteen years ago, the First GonAie war had driven the majority of Earth's inhabitants into space. Those who had stayed either perished in the conflict or miraculously survived under the GonAie's short but ruthless governance. The current ruling party, the APX - an organization made out of 6 powerful Earthen houses, won the war by employing a doomsday device built within Hephae itself. In the original timeline, the weapon had managed to destroy 2 major planets, its first victim was GonAie in the First War, following by Earth in the Second.

"You mentioned V's background just now," Stella asked the rest of the party. "What did you mean by that?"

"His mother was co-captain of the Artemis, next to his uncle. They were supposed to be Earth's first line of defense before GonAie took down the Galileo fleet." RM lowered his eyes. The repercussions from the First War were still fresh in this timeline, Stella's heart sank as she fell into the whirlwind of foregone griefs.

"I doubt that the GonAies would let V and his mom be at large. That could explain her dementia." J-Hope added, he then covered his mouth and gasped. "Poor thing, did I smack his head too hard just now?"

"I think he'll live." RM consoled his best friend. "Whatever happened, happened. It's never been healthy to cling on to the past."

Stella choked on her water. That felt a little too personal.

"Now that we are all here, it is upon us to make things better for everyone." RM smiled for the first time in the night. From this side of the table, Stella could clearly see the dimples that caved into his bright, young face. The nice sight troubled her for some reasons.

"Ever run out of the right things to say?" J-Hope held up his juice box. "To better lives and no more war?"

"To better lives and no more war."

The boys grinned at one another and their eyes gleamed with hope. Slowly, the sunken faces of war heroes in Stella's memory overlapped with those in front of her. It was never wise to be in close contact with the deceased, she broke time-traveling rule number 1 and now there was hell to pay.

"To Earth." Stella raised her glass, but to lost lives instead. Footages of fallen fleets began to rampage her mind. Was it their past, or was it her past she was seeing? Stella came into this world thinking that she had all the answers to their questions, only to find herself plagued with more doubts as days went by.

What created the nightmarish monster out of a boy whose dream was to command his mother's ship?

Why would the Admiral join forces with the GonAies in 50 years' time?

What was on his mind when he ordered the Navy to destroy the Galileo Fleet all over again?

One misstep and she had fallen into the deep, dark pit of uncertainty.