It felt right strange, walking into a building named after me. I didn't have much time to ponder it, what with all the other new cadets hustling and bustling to our first morning class. Three marble steps outside, through the fancy glass doors, and then on the carpeted hallways to dozens of classrooms. None of them cadets knew who "Chief Engineer James Lauwers" was, even though I was standing right there. They hoped to be officers on big shiny ships. The funniest part is that Chief was just my title back then, I didn't have no rank. Weren't technically even an engineer, either, but Captain saved the planet and he got to pick the name for the building.

It wasn't really that early in the morning, the Naval Academy called it "zero eight". Or 0800, if you had to write it all formal. Some cadets looked like they had just rolled out of bed; the fella in front of me had one sleeve of his coveralls rolled up and the other rolled down. He walked like he was spooked, too. 

Back home, that is, where I'm from, we'd of been up for three hours by now. Feed the ponies, milk the cows, sweep the wood slat porches in front of all the businesses, and read the script one last time before the big name actors showed up. We was always in character, that's how we lived. But the big names always threw a fit if one of us messed up a single word, even when they forgot whole pages of stuff. One girl was known to forget her own character's name. Everybody who watches vids thought she was so smart. If only they saw the truth. 

But that was back home, my old life. That life was gone now, and I'm glad of it. Missy had been my girl back then, the prettiest girl on the whole planet. And trust me, I've seen some of those vid stars before they go to makeup; Missy made them all look plain. Now, she wasn't just my girl, but she was my wife, and the mother-to-be of our first child. Even waddling around the house, hair a mess and my bathrobe tied around her belly, she put all them vid stars to shame. I've made some poor choices in my life, but Missy ain't one of them. 

To be honest about it, I'm not sure joining the Merchant Marine track at Nora's Naval Academy was one of my best choices. Captain had put in a good word for me. He said I had what it took to be an excellent officer. I won't never call Captain stupid, but I'm not really sure he thought this one through. 

Still, Captain said it, so I best do my part. The fella in front of me was in the Merchant Marine track, the gray coveralls gave it away. I was taller, and stretched my legs a bit to catch up to him. 

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"Hey," I said as I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Whoa up. Your sleeves aren't the same."

He bout jumped out of his skin, looked at me, went pale, and then looked at his sleeves. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at me and held out his hand. "Thanks! I'm Raul."

"Jimmie," I replied as we shook hands. Our gray uniforms had no insignia, unlike the Navy pukes. They had ranks, and name tags and all that. The Merchant Marines didn't go in for all that fluff in the Academy, but they did have spiffy uniforms once we were assigned to our first post. I had seen Captain and his wife in theirs, and they looked like the poster people wanted to look like. Lots of medals, and their rank was clear to see. 

Raul talked a kilometer a minute and he rolled down his right sleeve as we walked down the hallway. "I came through here yesterday and mapped out my classrooms. We're all in orientation today, with a lunch break. Starting tomorrow we'll be in regular classrooms. Everyone, I mean, Merchant Marine and Navy, takes lunch together. It's supposed to build teamwork between our two services."

A couple of other Merchant Marines joined us as Raul talked. The girl looked strong, and the guy wore glasses. Neither of them talked much, but listened to Raul go on about the new building, and how things were laid out, and how cool it was to be the first class to do this here.

"It's not that cool," the new guy whispered. He looked around, like he was scared. "The Navy students gang up on the Merchant Marines. They push us around and mess up our stuff."

I shook my head. "How can you know that? We just started class?"

"Are you not in the dorms?" The guy said. "Haven't you seen it?"

"Sorry, no. I live off base, with my wife," I replied. I didn't add that I'd spent months in the hospital, and then more months writing up reports and being questioned about the big ship. 

Captain had looked cross at me when I called the ship alien. "They are human, Chief. Just like us. You led some of them, did they seem that alien to you?"

Captain was right. I had listened to all the newsies and the interrogator and everyone, and they kept calling the ship people aliens. "Sorry, Captain. They's my Engineers, and they did a great job."

I don't like that memory. Not only do I feel dumb for talking bad about my own team, but I always remember the ones that didn't make it. Captain says he took responsibility for stopping the attacking ship the way we did, but I have blood on my hands, too. I stood on that bridge, I gave him the console to operate. 

"Hey, are you okay? You look hurt." Raul said. His hand gently shook my shoulder and chased away the memory. 

"Sorry...sorry." I shook my head. A tear ran down my cheek; I helped kill my friends and I got a building named after me.