It had been a short night when the sergeant woke them up. They were rushed to the mess and given even less time than usual to gulp down yet another portion of some tasteless colorless slop. The sergeant warned them to eat well because today was a big day and it could be quite some time before they ate again. This wasn't the first time he had given them such a speech, yet today felt different. The tables were buzzing. Recruits were speculating on whether today could be the big day.

'I think it's going to happen today.' Hiyo said.

'I'll believe it when I see it. Wouldn't be the first time we are let down by one of their supposedly big days. Last time they pulled this one on us, we ended up scrubbing some stupid engine dock all day. Those assholes called it a big day because it was the first time we got to see some ugly, old plasma-electric engine. Whoop di do my ass.' Wago grunted.

'I agree with Hiyo.' Jabs said. 'I think today might be the big day.'

'The day of ascension.' Emil said.

'Careful, Emil. Don't let the guards catch you talking like that or we could all be in trouble.' Voss replied.

'Why? What did he say?' Tick asked.

'Shut up about it already. Let it rest.' Dane warned the others. 'Besides if this is truly the big day, then we better focus on what's at hand. Void walking is no walk in the park from what I heard.'

'Dane is right.' Voss said. 'Let's eat as much as we can and prepare for whatever is to come. You guys all remember the steps for suiting up by heart?'

'Yes of course.' Wago snapped back at him with an annoyed voice. 'Stop acting like the rest of us are stupid.'

'Calm down, Wago. Voss is right. We should all go over the steps again inside our heads as we go there. There's zero margin for error here and none of us have ever done this before. So we need to be fully focused and completely prepared.' Dane said. Dane had the ability to talk in a way that made everyone unwilling to question his authority. Voss had suspected from day one that Dane had been some kind of enforcer or boss in a major gang, but there was no way to find out, and Dane wasn't likely to tell them either.

'Time's up, move it you bunch of drunken apes.' the sergeant barked.

They got up, handed in their empty trays and ran after the sergeant. Voss noticed that the amount of armed guards and instructors that were with them was unusually low today. Did this mean they started to trust the recruits more? Or were they needed elsewhere?

After a good while of running, the sergeant halted them in front of a large airlock that had "launch dock TD9" written on it. 'So we are going into the void today after all.' Voss thought to himself.

The steel airlocked doors produced a loud clanking noise as they slowly slid open, revealing a launch bay with a Ciklops voidcraft in its center. It was a thirty meter model made for void construction works. The sergeant gave them one of his usual tirades. Something about them being slow grandmothers. Voss barely registered what the sergeant was yelling at them. None of them were. Their hearts were racing. It was for real now. After days worth of void training, they were now going to enter the cold, unforgiving void with only their mark III’s protecting them from death. They were going to voidwalk for the very first time. There would be no margin for errors. Break away from the group and you had mere hours before your oxygen ran out.

At least you still had a chance to be saved in case of break away. If any of your systems broke down, you had mere minutes at best, and that was if you noticed the malfunction in time. Anything happened to the suit itself and you’d be dead before you knew what happened.

All these things ran through the recruits’ heads as they tried to simultaneously remember all the instructions and protocols that had been rammed inside their heads these past weeks on board the spaceport.

Twenty one passengers entered the Ciklops. Ten recruits, ten instructors, one sergeant. The Ciklop’s rear cargo door closed behind them. The instructors were already wearing their suits and helmets when they got in. The recruits’ suits had been placed on board. They wasted no time and put on their suits and helmets, going through each step meticulously. Even the sergeant was focused and silent whilst putting on his suit. The void demanded absolute precision.

The air pressure in the Ciklops rose slightly after the doors were closed. The ship had been designed to have upper pressure. This kept the special valve on the mark III helmets open at all times whilst on board. Thus making sure that their oxygen systems stayed turned off. A basic system aimed at keeping their limited oxygen supplies preserved whilst still keeping everyone safe in case of sudden loss of cabin pressure. When upper pressure was lost, the inner pressure of the helmet would cause the valve to be shut automatically. This in turn would spring their oxygen tanks into action. All of this worked through a mechanic system, minimizing the risk of malfunctions.

Voss could hear the launch bay was being emptied of air whilst the recruits put on their suits and strapped themselves into their seats. More accurately, he noticed how the ever present noise from machines and air vents slowly faded away as the air surrounding the Ciklops became thinner. Eventually everything fell silent and all that remained was the nervous, heavy breathing of the recruits.

A green light turned on. Their pilot spoke through the intercom: ‘Launch bay vacuum reached. Outer doors are opening. We will be ready for launch soon. Troop status confirm?’. The sergeant replied: ‘Troop status is go. All void ready and strapped in.’

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The pilot responded via the communal frequency: ‘Ciklops Rebus Manor Four Seven ready for launch.’. Voss grabbed onto the straps of his seatbelt, preparing himself for the launch’ impact. Nothing happened. They just sat there in complete silence, strapped in and waiting. The sergeant broke the silence. ‘Telecom check, does everyone copy? I want to see thumbs up if you do.’. Everyone gave him a thumbs up. ‘Good. Launch bay doors will be fully opened soon. Everybody relax for now. The red light will start flashing when we’re ready for launch. When it stops blinking, launch is due in three seconds.’

Voss tried to relax and wait for the red light to start flashing, but he found it was easier said than done. His heart rate was still up and his breathing so heavy that his visor became slightly condensed. A drop of sweat was making its way down his forehead. It tickled him as it went down. He couldn’t do anything about it though, so he tried to ignore it.

The red light started flashing and then stopped again. He braced himself for impact. A sudden force slammed him forward. It was a rapid acceleration that only lasted for three seconds. After that, nothing happened. An eerily peaceful quiet was all that remained.

The sergeant spoke through their intercoms. ‘The pilot has to wait until the proper distance and rotation from the spaceport has been achieved. This is to prevent the exhaust plasma particles from shooting into the spaceport. It’s a standard preventative procedure to avoid gradual corrosion of the spaceport’s exterior hull. The red light will flash again when the pilot turns on our engines.’

The red light flashed a few seconds after the sergeant spoke. Three seconds after it turned off again, the ship began to accelerate. This lasted for about two minutes, after which they glided to whatever their destination was. The Ciklops flight was very different from the one in the Minoutar. There was no turbulence, no unexpected turns or shakes. It was as if they weren’t moving at all. There were no sounds and since there was no outside view, it felt like nothing was happening. There was no way for Voss or the other passengers to know where they were flying towards or how fast they were going.

There was a near total silence for most of the flight. Broken only by the sounds of their oxygen valves opening and closing with each breath. Voss hadn’t realized just how noisy and busy the spaceport was. The contrast provided by the deadly quiet Ciklops now made him all too aware of it. He wasn’t used to it. The slums were always noisy and so were the large machines he used to work on. Even the bunker in which they received sergeant Radklif’s classes hadn’t been this silent. The silence felt like a stranger to him. One he’d have to get used to. Fortunately, the sergeant proved himself to be willing to break the uneasy silence, when he began to growl instructions through the intercom.

‘Listen up, you pansies. Today’s objective is to repair a geostationary satellite located one thousand clicks south-southwest from the spaceport. This is a standard observation and communication relay satellite that is part of the spaceport’s periphery systems. Contact to this satellite was lost yesterday. Most likely due to a technical failure. That said, I want you lot to be prepared for anything. Your objective is to discover the problem and fix it.

All of you are assigned an instructor. You will be physically linked to your instructor via a retractable cable. The maximum length of that cable is ten meters. Your instructor’s primary task is to observe you. They will assist you during the work itself and instruct you when necessary. However, if your instructor has to do any type of emergency intervention, you will be disqualified. Trust me, you do not want that. Obey your instructor at all times.

Each instructor has a number on their suits. I will call out each recruit and give them a number. Pair up with your instructor. They have number patches with them to put on the front and back of your suits. During the mission, all communication will happen through rank and number only. Before each message, you will state rank and number. This lets the others know who is talking. Voidwalking tends to get chaotic. Three minutes in, you’ll have lost track of who is who. The numbers on your suits are the only clear identifying markers you have, so use them. Whenever possible, I also want you to state your location before beginning your message. Muck this up and you are disqualified. Is that understood?’

The recruits and instructors all gave the sergeant a thumbs up.

‘Good. You will be split into two teams of five pairs. Team one will be numbers one to five. Team two, six to ten. Your helmet display shows an oxygen bar. Ten blocks means your tank is full, zero blocks means you’re dead.

Team one will go back in for oxygen refills once their tanks hit five blocks. Team two will go back in once their tanks hit four blocks. I want you to signal me before going back for refill. Failure to do so leads to disqualification.

This is a real mission and you are in the real void. There is no rescue party. Mistakes can be deadly. I expect you all to be at one hundred percent focus and I want that satellite back up, working in perfect condition. Is that understood?’

Again twenty thumbs up signaled that everyone had received his message loud and clear.

Good. Estimated arrival time is in ten minutes. The lights will flash again before engines are turned on again. I will now pair you up with your instructors. Your instructors will tell you the frequencies of your private communication channels. Restrict yourselves to your channel unless you’ve got something to say that’s important for all to hear.

Now for the pairings.

Team blue.

Dane, one

Jabs, two

Atis, three

Emil, four

Voss, five

Team red

Wago, six

Hiyo, seven

Hoog, eight

Tick, nine

East, ten

Get to your instructors, get your gear in order, and walk through the mission details with them.

Voss got out of his seat and gave himself a small push towards instructor five. He floated through the passenger bay of the Ciklops at a calm and controlled pace. He noticed his instructor was the shortest of them all, with a slim build. ‘It’s a good thing we’ll be weightless.’ Voss thought to himself. ‘Or he’d be of little use if we got into trouble. He could probably fit twice inside me.’

The instructor moved forward and placed his hand on Voss’ intercom module. The instructor typed in a code and an automated voice spoke through Voss’ intercom. ‘Switching to channel 5.’

‘Can you hear me now, recruit?’. The instructor’s voice wasn’t that of a man. It was that of a woman. A familiar one at that.

‘Lieutenant Vanmire? Is that you?’