Portia stared at him a moment more before turning and striding away. She’d been hearing that answer her whole life, and it brought her no more comfort now. There had to be more to her existence than that. Wasn’t that the whole point of coming here?

For a couple of weeks now, Hikaru Sulu had been hearing from other faculty members that the Warborn Arcturians were difficult, aloof, at once overly aggressive and resistant to any teaching that even hinted at a combat application. He didn’t see it himself. The Warborn cadets in his introductory piloting class were focused, quick, and enthusiastic—particularly the youthful-seeming male called Benedick, whose eager inquisitiveness reminded Sulu of his younger self, and the quieter female Portia, who was quick to show anger or frustration but showed signs of being a natural, instinctive pilot.

If nothing else, the Warborn cadets differed from the rest in one refreshing way: they didn’t beg him to jump right to the combat piloting simulations a semester ahead of schedule, or attempt to hack the simulators to call them up. To most young people in the Federation, battle was an exotic abstraction, a fantasy made romantic by its remoteness from their everyday lives, so they were eager to get a taste of it—until the grim realities sank in. But the Warborn had trained for battle their entire lives. If anything, it was the mundane piloting operations that were the novelty to them.

The course work at this early stage consisted mostly of lectures, readings, and simulator time, but at the end of the second week, Sulu took his cadets up with him individually in an Academy aerial shuttle for an introduction and familiarization session, letting them observe his operation of the craft from the copilot’s seat. It was admittedly as much about giving himself a chance to do some flying as it was about providing the cadets with experience. But it served both purposes, so why not?

Most of the students he took up, including Benedick, pleaded with him to let them take the controls, however briefly. If he thought highly enough of their learning curve and reflexes, he’d grant the request during one of the easier parts of the flight. He would have readily allowed Portia to try it; indeed, her Warborn training had already included fighter piloting, so she was overqualified.

However, when her turn came, Portia merely sat quietly and watched. For days now, she had seemed distracted. She had always been punctual, completed all her classwork, and done everything required of her, yet no more than that, as though her mind were elsewhere.

Hoping to draw her out, Sulu smiled at her. “If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer.”

The young Arcturian ruminated for several moments, then sighed. “I have too many questions. Just not about this.”