At the academy we were prepared for war. To a real war, when the enemy does not let you breathe, puts pressure on you and seeks to destroy you at any cost. In times like these, the Empire needs everyone, so I wasn’t particularly worried, believing that there would be enough war for everyone. And when we were sent to the Orium support fleet, we all rejoiced - the real war, which there was so much talk about, and real battles seemed close to us. But when this war began, we found ourselves unclaimed. The Empire went on the attack without us. Without me in particular... (A short story parallel to the plot of the Dominion Soldier and the Veteran; can be read as an independent work)