At 4:00 a.m. on May 9, a rousing rendition of The Ride of the Dragons rang in Colonel Jaeger Sobek's ears. It was the Starrealm Knights' anthem. Like a fish yanked onto shore, he jerked and spasmed, then forcibly hauled himself out of bed.
Within ten minutes, he had used the bathroom, washed up, gotten dressed, and made his bed. At precisely 4:10, he appeared in the elevator leading to the training room at the bottom of the ship, his movements so practiced they were almost pitiful.
The elevator's polished walls reflected a young man in a snug training outfit, tall and handsome. If you ignored his lifeless fish eyes, which had yet to fully wake up, anyone would have called him a fine, promising young man.
Nearly ten seconds passed before a glimmer of life finally returned to those fish eyes, which did so much to ruin his overall aura. Jaeger stared at the energetic young fellow in the reflection and let out a weary sigh.
He swore by the Spirit of the Universe that he had never gotten up this early—not when he was studying for university entrance exams, not during the two years after graduation when he served as an officer in the colonies, and not even when he'd been playing hide-and-seek with indigenous rebels among the forests and mountains.
To be fair, Jaeger didn't think he was a lazy person. He was a promising young man who hoped to restore his family's fortunes, and from childhood he'd been one of those wretched "other people's kids." His self-discipline was at least above average. However, ever since he'd somehow become Duke Sadoulan's disciple, his disciplined routine had veered without end toward the inhuman.
"Getting up at seven every day? That's far too shallow! Far too lazy! Jaeger, for