Location: Imperial Academy, Babylon
Date: 203.12.14

The remaining three officer candidates of the now-notorious class of C.203 assembled within the Imperial Academy's "colosseum", a large amphitheater fitted with an enormous holodeck, the stands packed with an excited crowd for the big event. An unprecedented three students reached this final trial of their education, the last step before graduating with full honors as a commissioned officer.

Each of the three officer candidates, in turn, performed a fleet battle in a full simulated environment, each triumph and mistake shown in its full glory on the vast holographic field. Enemy ships exploded and allied vessels sank, a vicious crowd-pleaser akin to the gladiatorial fights of old.

Normally, well over a dozen officer candidates would have made it this far without washing out, but the class of C.203 was evidently cursed from the start. By far the worst-performing class in the Imperium's two-century history, prevailing rumors claimed that Minerva had lost a bet to Justitia and subsequently allowed the meddlesome AI to hand-pick the most embarrassing student body possible.

As each new officer completed the trial and, ragged and sweaty, disembarked the mock starship bridge, the crowds cheered apprehensively, for they knew: the candidate with the single "best" score would, by tradition, immediately join the Imperial Guard upon graduation, entrusted with protecting Byzantium from hostile foreign powers. Gods help us all.