text: [Themes: sci-fi]
  
  You're the officer who has been tasked with guiding the diagnostic project to completion, but you get the distinct sense that it's Chief Dansmith who has been watching you. It's made you feel uncomfortable and self-conscious to be scrutinized by someone so much more experienced than you. Could it be he resents being assigned to a team led by an ensign as young as yourself? It doesn't fit his reputation, but the possibility nags at you all morning long.
  
  As the diagnostic tests are nearing completion you are surprised by the smell of smoke. Dansmith and Stio seem to be oblivious, so you try and identify the source. The smell, faint at first, leads you down the narrow room to the lateral sensor control board, where you find an unusual device plugged into the sensor controls.
  
  Wasn't Chief Dansmith working down here a little while ago? Before you can get too close, the device flashes. Now you see a plasma energy leak emanating from the wall. Within seconds the room will be filled with toxic gases and radiation--but something seems fishy.
  
  > If you investigate the strange device, turn to page 51.
  Something is not right, and your first instinct is to investigate that strange device. So while common sense tells you to move away from the plasma leak, you instead move toward it. As you suspected, there is no heat and the air smells fine, other than the smell of smoke. This is in contrast with what your eyes see, which is a glowing and sparking burst of wild, uncontrolled energy.
  
  Because your senses are conflicting, you activate your WristComp to analyze the leak and get an objective point of view. That's odd, the Wrist Comp confirms that the room is filling with toxic gases and radiation. Plasma leaks are notoriously unpredictable, but the data on your display almost read like a textbook case study--too perfect to be believed. Not only have your eyes been fooled, but so has your WristComp.
  
  The device plugged into the lateral sensor control must be putting out false signals. The whole thing must be a ruse. There is only one thing to do: you reach your hand into what by all appearances should burn you to a crisp.
  
  "Ensign! What are you doing!" It's Chief Dansmith, who is running toward you as if alarmed by your actions, but you can see through his ruse too. Your fingers find the planted device, and you pull it from the console. Immediately the plasma leak vanishes, leaving only the faint after-smell of smoke.
  
  > Page 52
  Dansmith seems to be at a loss for words. "But you could have been horribly burned..." he trails off.
  
  You look at the odd device in your hand, which appears to be a holographic emitter of some kind. "Chief, I saw you," you say. "You were the last person here before this thing went off. I know you placed it there. Tell me why you did it, or I'll call Security!"
  
  Dansmith blinks rapidly, tries to say something, but comes up empty for words. You are about to activate the comm and call Security when someone else enters the room. "That will be enough, Ensign."
  
  It's Commander Andrade. "Chief, may we have the room?" she says. Chief Dansmith signals a very confused Petty Officer Stio, and together they exit the control room.
  
  "Have a seat," the commander says, and you each pull up a rollaway stool. "So tell me, what just happened here?"
  
  "Commander, ma'am, I think Chief Dansmith planted this device," you say. "It was simulating a plasma leak so convincing that even my WristComp was getting false readings."
  
  "That's very interesting," Andrade says. "Now why do you think Chief Dansmith would do such a thing?"
  
  At that moment you realize that despite all of your suspicions from a few moments ago, you can't provide a cogent answer to that question--you can think of no rational reason why the chief would sabotage the sensor diagnostic by planting a holographic emitter.
  
  "Well here's the reason," the commander says. "I told him to do it."
  
  You are immediately both stunned and embarrassed.
  
  > Page 53
  Commander Andrade continues. "I was going to cover this at our meeting this morning, but now's as good a time as any," she says. "You'll be pleased to know the captain has approved your promotion. Allow me to be the first person to congratulate you, Lieutenant."
  
  "So you were testing me?" you say.
  
  "Yes, and the results were, shall we say, interesting."
  
  "What about the mission to Folvan?" you ask. "There have been a lot of rumors going around about who's going to lead that team."
  
  Andrade looks at you carefully before responding. "Captain Ynthramanni has decided to give that assignment to Lieutenant Wyte. We're sure he is the best person for that job."
  
  You leave the meeting with the commander devastated. You know you should feel excited for getting your promotion, but the news that the mission you had been preparing for has gone to someone else--and of all people, Aolin Wyte--hits you like a punch in the gut. Wyte has been your biggest rival since you both arrived on the Orion a year ago. He made lieutenant two months before you, and now he landed what many people thought was going to be your mission. You feel both hurt and angry at the same time.
  
  > If you ask Andrade to reevaluate you, turn to page 60.
  You are able to schedule a meeting with Commander Andrade the next morning. You are convinced that it was your reaction to the simulated plasma leak in the control room that knocked you out of consideration for the Folvan mission, but you feel that it was an unfair test. You've known the commander for four years, so you're certain she will be reasonable.
  
  But instead she appears disappointed when you ask that she reevaluate you for the mission. When you are done speaking she folds her arms and leans back in her chair.
  
  "Look, Lieutenant," she says. "You've accomplished a lot in your short career in the Astral Navy, and you should be proud of your promotion. I've had your back ever since you helped get us all off Giri Minor.
  
  "But leading a planetary mission is a complicated assignment, especially at a place like Folvan where we need to be careful not to reveal ourselves to a bronze-age population that has no concept of space travel. The captain felt strongly--and I agreed--that we needed someone with precisely the right leadership qualities, therefore Lieutenant Wyte will be in charge of the mission.
  
  "I will be meeting with Captain Ynthramanni tomorrow to determine what your role on the Orion will be going forward. But we will not be reevaluating the command assignment for the Folvan mission."