On Earth, Rachel lived a rather normal life.  This was despite her being known as a "True Emiran" amongst the other members of her race.  The term itself was coined a couple of centuries ago as the Emiran race continued to grow at a rapid pace.  The people valued those that carried the bloodline originally started by Midnight and Laura Emira a millennium ago, believing that the carriers were amongst the best and brightest of their race.
    She lived in her birthplace of Galtore, the capitol of Emiran-occupied territory.  The girl attended school, played with friends and explored her home, like many of the other children in the city.  She also had a fascination with the sky and beyond since she was a young child.  This was thanks to her father, Matthew Emira.  He was a veteran pilot in the Azura Squadron, the premier group of Lumina fighter pilots that helped defend the race from an increasingly violent human race.
    Rachel would often look up into the skies, watching the occasional Lumina Mk. IV fly across the serene blue as they patrolled the airspace.  It was a common sight to see her sitting underneath a tree, book in hand as she daydreamed.  The books she carried focused on aviation history, starting from the origin of the airplane.  If she was tested on the subject, she would be able to answer any question, no matter how obscure it might be.  Her memory of the books that she read was practically photographic.  It became routine for her to read at least one passage from these books every day since she was three.
    Naturally, her reading went into other aviation topics, particularly warfare throughout history.  She would often discuss her readings with her father, learning even more in the process.  The desire to become a pilot like him grew.
    Shortly after her seventh birthday, during one of her frequent trips with her dad to Galtore Air Base, Matthew took her to an area that she never saw before; the simulator barracks.  Here, the base had placed their top-of-the-line flight simulators to allow their pilots to train as much as they want to ensure that they stayed in prime condition.  Matt had used his position amongst the ranks of the air force to allow Rachel to visit this sector.  After he briefly explained the workings of these simulators, he allowed Rachel to try one of them.  A powerful sense of excitement washed over her as she was strapped into the chair and took the controls into her hands.  The machine activated instantly, allowing her to choose the settings for the battle that she wanted.  She went with something basic, a squadron-on-squadron combat scenario just outside of Galtore.  When it loaded the scenario, Rachel found herself in a holographic cockpit.  The enemy squadron was ahead of her and approaching fast.  She tensed as they grew closer, hoping that she knew what had to be done to win.
    Her father only stood back and watched, wanting to see how she would do.
    Rachel struggled to handle her virtual Lumina, almost crashing at times when she performed some advanced maneuvers.  Eventually, she managed to gain control of her ship.  She managed to survive the battle, particularly thanks to the competent AI that she was working with.  However, her plane was damaged in the end.
    When the simulation was over, her father congratulated her on the victory and proceeded to tell her about what she could have done to improve herself.  When finished, he announced that he would take her to the simulator three times a week.
    Over the course of the next few years, her skills grew.  Within time, she was able to take on the most advanced scenarios, including those that required her to issue orders to her allies.  She did suffer a few losses along the way, but with her father's advice, she rebounded in a dominating manner every time.
    The more that she went into the simulator, the more she wanted to stay in it and continue her sessions.  She only wanted to be the best, believing that she would have to train constantly to reach such a goal.  Matthew would only allow her in it for a couple hours at a time, not wanting to make the other pilots wait for her to stop using it.
    Things changed on one fateful December afternoon, just a few days before her twelfth birthday.  After returning from class, her father called her to the living room of their home.  He told her that after a series of violent attacks caused by humanity, the Emiran leadership had decided that they would leave Earth and move to a planet of their own; an Earth-like planet that they had named Purity.  They would be boarding a colony ship by the end of the month.  Naturally, the news came to Rachel as a shock.  She was well aware of the increasing hostility caused by humanity's personal jealousy towards the Emiran race and their intelligence.  It was still saddening, yet sickening to her.  The life that she knew on Earth was coming to an end.
    Rachel's 12th birthday would be spent helping pack their things.  Her parents did manage to create a small party for her, but nobody could truly enjoy it due to their imminent departure.
    On the day before they would board the ship, Rachel spent one last night looking up into the sky from under the tree in her front yard.  Soon, she would be amongst those stars.  It still saddened her that she was about to leave Earth, but she knew inside that moving to a new home somewhere in the universe was an exciting opportunity.
    The colony ship that her family boarded was the Redemption.  With the foresight of the Emiran government, their leaders had three of these mighty colony ships built to transport their entire race.  Each ship could hold thousands of Emiran citizens and acted as a sort of city.  They were constructed with comfort in mind, hoping to give their people a sense of being normal while they are on the voyage.  Such massive ships were powered by special Aurian Crystals.
    Matthew told Rachel that the journey to Purity would take a couple of years.  He was also going to be in charge of the two fighter wings that would be on the ship for protection if humanity chose to pursue them.  In the meantime, Rachel would still follow a routine of school, exercise and social time.  She would also be allowed to use the flight simulators that were installed in the military sector of the ship.  However, her time would be even more limited due to the number of machines available.  There was one simulator that she wouldn't be able to operate however, an advanced simulator that was called Enlightenment.  It was meant strictly for only the best pilots on the force.
    She listened to her father during the journey, staying true to the timetable that was set for everyone on the ship.  Life was somewhat normal for her in the ship, but instead of looking at blue skies, she looked out into space through an observation deck.
    Rachel was allowed to use the simulators once a day, but only for thirty minutes at a time.  Her sessions flew by in moments, having barely done no more than three battles before her time was up.
    After her sessions, she would often walk by the doors that were the access to Enlightenment.  She would sometimes stand there, hoping to catch a glimpse of the machine through the sliding doors as they opened.   They never did open for her when she was around.
    As the months passed by, she wanted more time in the simulators.  She snuck out of her quarters several times to use them late in the night.  On one night, her father did catch her.  Instead of scowling her, he simply told her that she needed to rest.  Even the best pilots had to rest if they wished to survive the next battle.  Rachel would take those words to heart.
    Over the course of the next year, her sense of time slowly vanished.  Sure, they still followed Earth's time on the ship, but when there was no day and night cycle to watch in the sky, it became difficult for Rachel to remember the time anymore.  It didn't matter to her; as long as she could access the simulators, she could get some sort of feeling of home.
    Her thirteenth birthday is now approaching.  While she would love to wish for this trip to be over, she would want nothing more than to finally experience Enlightenment.  Maybe one day she'll get her chance.
    For now, she'll just continue looking out at the space around her from the observation deck, waiting for a chance to maybe finally be amongst those stars in a ship of her own.