The pace only intensified the following week, and Isabella discovered that Primori's academic program was as demanding as its physical training. Advanced tactical theory, fleet operations, strategic analysis, engineering principles, leadership psychology—the curriculum was designed to produce officers who could think critically under pressure, who understood both the technical and human elements of command.
Isabella threw herself into the work with the same intensity she'd brought to machinery repair in the Lower Works. Every lecture was a puzzle to solve, every assignment an opportunity to prove herself. She took meticulous notes, asked questions that made professors pause and reconsider their explanations, stayed late in study rooms working through complex problems.
And she kept runnin
