“Out here, your only protection from instant death is your suit. If there’s a leak, you die. If your jets break, you’ll drift out to space until you die, whether from starvation or power outage is up to circumstance. Luckily, even for Mk IIs, your suits are made with durability in mind and can take a real beating. Take a minute, get used to the feeling. Roy, stop staring at me like that and flip around before Squire Higgins punches you to your proper orientation.” Floating out in space without a care for the emptiness around her was Knight Halloway, almost invisible against the black space between the distant stars if not for her small violet jets and the lights around her frame.
Roy tried to focus on reorienting himself instead of the sound of his heavy breathing. He did his best not to think about how he and certain death were only separated by less than a foot of man-made materials. He had never felt so vulnerable before, so close to instant death. It felt like staring down from the railing of a tall building, except the floor and everything holding you up was gone, just that empty feeling in your gut that any moment you’ll fall and die. Except, that fall could be in any direction at any time.
Somehow, Roy turned rightside up and managed to get in line with everyone else. He wondered how the rest of them were doing. He noticed Bear had barely said anything when they were putting him in his suit, as if he didn’t care. Maybe he was familiar with EVAs? But still, just looking out to space from the hanger was terrifying and now that they were out here in the thick of it? He would’ve gladly spent the rest of his day working out ‘till exhaustion. But it seemed Knight Halloway had different goals in mind as the other three squires came into view from deep space in their small fighter ships. They must’ve left while everyone was suiting up because when they were back in the hanger, the ships were gone. Now, as they approached closer he could see them in more detail. Maybe it was the focus from fear of death or some other driving instinct, but he zeroed in on them, taking every detail he could. Though some distance away still, they were rapidly approaching probably arriving in less than a minute. They looked like squashed cones, the sharp tip flattened and dull. Dents and small deficiencies were impossible to see at the current range, but he could see some subtle discoloration along one of their sides as they banked to the left. The black letters faded and scratched, trophies of prior conflict.
They turned parallel from the looming facility and quickly approached. They were zooming onto their location before quickly doing a one-eighty and pushing in the opposite direction with a flare from their propulsion, stopping behind Knight Halloway in a set formation. The ships were huge, each just short the size of a bus and a little wider than them too. Now that they were up close, he could see that they were in fact not cone like, but more like a hexagon stretched out and tapered towards the front. There was no visible cockpit, but a series of lights littered the outside of the ships that weren’t visible from the distance and each side had several sets of green circles that looked out of place to Roy.
“As you can see the three ships behind me, those are being piloted by Squires Balrosh, Talia and Evone. These are Arrow class fighters, Arrowheads are what most people call ‘em. They’re meant to get to larger ships and deliver their packages as quickly as possible. Those packages are poor saps, like yourselves. Elder Knight Benkis has issued a support frigate a little bit of ways out in the Black, so I’ve got a challenge for all of you.” Everyone was listening intently as the Knight gave them something that wasn’t an order, but something more base than that. A competition. “The first ten Dregs that can board and infiltrate the frigate will get tomorrow off and all day access to the Bastion.” She crossed her arms again at the end of her delivery with a note that would’ve had them all hooting and hollering, except for one problem.
“What’s the Bastion?” Asked Fat Mike. The Knight floated there silently for a moment before she seemed to come to realize that none of them were familiar with what that was. She placed her hands on her hips for a second before pointing towards them all.
“First ten Dregs get five-thousand credits and tomorrow off.” Everyone was cheering that time, even Roy. Five-thousand credits was a lot. The most anyone he’d ever met had around five-hundred credits and they were dressed to the nines, had cy-neks and even a few mutations. The cheapest hover vehicles cost around a thousand and the nicest he’d seen were at most three-thousand. Roy couldn’t imagine what he could buy with that much, but by the sounds of the others and their excited talk, he had an idea what they would buy. Even Bones sounded thrilled by the idea.
“Glad to hear I have everyone’s attention. Now there’s a couple things we have to go over before we go. First off is upper and lower mag locks. Your gloves and boots are equipped with automatic mag locks that disengage when you push against a surface, that’s how Squire Higgins was able to leap from wall to wall without stopping. But for hooking, you’ll need to lock down so you don’t go spinning out in the Black. Squire Higgins, how are you supposed to lock down?” Further to the side, Squire Higgins looked just like the rest of them but moved with natural grace and fluidity that they all lacked, save for the Knight herself.
“When your hands and feet are in place, touch your chest plate to the ship and the lock down will happen automatically. Alternatively, you can speak the verbal command, ‘Suit, Lock’. This will lock your hands and feet to their respective locations but allow the rest of your suit free maneuvering. The alternative method isn’t recommended for Mk. II suits though it’s certainly been done before. When you’re ready to let go, speak, ‘Suit, Release’. This will release your suit from manual lock down, but will keep in place the automatic locks until you’re ready to let go. If you miss your target and find yourself drifting towards the Black, say, ‘Suit, May Day’. This will send a minor distress beacon that will alert all nearby G.U.N. sensors of your location.” Squire Higgins stopped as the Knight held out a hand and ordered him to hook onto one of the Arrowheads. Saluting, he flew towards the closest ship and placed his hands and feet where the green circles were alongside the sides of each ship.
“As you can see, there’s enough room for all of us. Remember, you have access to your navigation systems as well. Don’t panic if you miss the frigate, just stop your momentum and signal the Mayday command, we’ll pick you up eventually and we’ll keep practicing until the first ten board the frigate. Even if the first ten board the frigate, if it’s still in your ability board it, you won’t get tomorrow off but you’ll get two-thousand credits. Learning to hook and board ships is one of the most important things you can know as a Dreg since you’ll be the first ones ordered to do it in a room filled with regular soldiers. This is what will make or break you in future zero gravity conflicts. No brakes, safety nets or hand holding, we’re going straight into the thick of it with as much practical use as possible. Your suits have enough power for ten hours, so we’ll go about five. If I don’t have at least ten of you boarding that ship before the end, you’ll all work twice as hard tomorrow then our usual exercises. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am!” They yelled in unison. As terrified as Roy was, he still wasn’t looking forward to the brutal sessions she had them do and couldn’t imagine going twice as hard. The idea of it made his body ache in phantom pain. No, he’d board that frigate and be one of the first, he could practically smell the credits under his name already. With that much money, he could buy himself a home, at least he thought he could. He’d never looked up how much a house would cost, since he’d only ever searched for apartments in case he didn’t make it into the G.U.N.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
With gusto, he and the other recruits followed Knight Halloway who had placed herself above Squire Higgins on the side of the ship. As Roy approached the same ship, others were filling up the empty spaces until they were all taken by the time he got there. They licked like little black ticks, clinging to the ship unnaturally as it gently began taking off so as to avoid the space debris that were the Dregs. Scared, Roy looked towards the ship on his left, only to see it begin taking off as well. Turning to the last ship in an almost panic, Roy zoomed over and filled a spot as quick as he could, only to notice no one was next to him. Confused, he pressed his chest against the ship as instructed and heard a whirring noise before his chest was locked into place by an unseen force while his hands automatically tightened their grip on the handles.
“Hooking, complete. Joining voice group, ‘Boarding Fodder’.” When the monotone voice of the computer finished, a crescendo of curses and laughter took over his suit speakers, causing him to flinch. Or at least, he would have if not for being immobile. He could hear some of his friends on the intercom, but there was too much going on for him to get an idea what they were saying.
“Alright, listen up!” The Squire’s voice came onto the intercom and shut everyone up, as if she muted them with the tone of her voice. Or maybe she just muted them. “Looks like that’s everyone. Everyone has a number and you’ll respond to that for as long as you’re hooked in. James, 1. Stanley, 1…” She went and addressed each of them until she finished with Roy, “Roy, 6. Those are your numbers, pay attention to them. When the time comes, I’ll let you know when to release, got it?” With the radio channel still silent, Roy felt the metal beneath him rumble and he tried to crane his head to the side to look behind him, but his head wouldn’t turn like it normally would.
Along for the ride, he tried to not think about where they were going and how far away from safety he was. A few minutes later, everyone’s voices could be heard on the channel again and voices scrambled to talk over one another. They spoke that way for almost five to ten minutes, according to the clock in one corner of his visor. He hadn’t paid attention to the clock until the Knight mentioned how much power they had and he’d been analyzing it constantly out of paranoia. The conversations began to get organized once some of them discovered that they could change voice channels manually and everyone did so except for a few. Fat Mike and Jerry were still on the channel they were all thrown in and Roy could hear them ribbing some of the others.
“Hey Randolph, don’t shit yourself this time, eh? Last time we had to clean it up with toilet paper and I’ll be damned if I have to clean that suit because of you,” Jerry said.
“Fuck you, Jerry! It was just something I ate!” A younger man’s voice said over the channel who he’d assumed was Randolph.
“Yeah? I heard it was something else, something that makes it hard to use the restroom!” Jerry’s laugh was a loud series of barks and it drowned out Randolph’s cursing before he switched channels too.
“Ah, that’s too funny. Any else there? Billy, yah jolly turd, are you there?”
“I think you scared ‘em all away Jerry. Why do you have to be such an ass to everyone?”
“Hey, I’m not an ass! It’s not my fault if they’re into sticking stuff in theirs, I just don’t want to have to clean that shit up again.”
“Well that was prison, different rules. You know better.”
“Ah, prison, grade school, military, it don’t fuckin’ matter Mike, it’s all the same. Everyone here’s a bitch and I love messing with ‘em.”
“Hey, I resent that,” Roy said, speaking over the channel for the first time.
“Ayyy! Roy, that you?!” Fat Mike said excitedly.
“Tiger! You ready to do another famous jump?! A ship is a bit different than some thug, I don’t know if you can handle something this big!” Jerry said, ribbing him a little too. Roy couldn’t help but smile though, it was nice to have people who were happy to talk to you.
“I’ll be honest guys, I’m scarred shitless right now. I’m trying real hard not to panic. What if we miss? What if we just drift out until we die of thirst or dehydration?” Roy was doing his best, but with the shaking of the Arrowhead beneath him and the thought of being further and further from safety was wearing him down. Hard. Luckily, he wasn’t alone.
“Hey Tiger, don’t freak out, you already know what to do if you miss the ship and you’ll get scooped up. It’s no biggie, they do these practice operations all the time. In fact, they have a miniature version of this that they’d broadcast in the nicer prisons. Me and Fat Mike’s favorite team are the Hanz Monarchs, they’re a team from the Fringe.” Jerry said.
“Huh, what’s the sport called?” Roy asked, a little more calm.
“Think they call it, ‘Zero-Gravity Capture the Shuttle’, but everyone just calls it Toss. You’ve never heard of it?”
“No, we didn’t have anything like that to watch on the orphanage. Why’s it called Toss?”
“Because it’s just a bunch of bodies getting tossed around, ha! So, tell me more about this orphanage of yours. Grew up at the same one or did you move around to a bunch of them?” Fat Mike said, asking Roy questions about his childhood enthusiastically.
“When I was younger, I bounced back and forth between them. Some were lost to the banks, others were destroyed.”
“Destroyed? Like poor construction?”
“No, from violence. Doesn’t take much, an angry orphan starts something with a local gang and soon enough they’ll shoot up the kids house. In those cases, the houses were the orphanages.”
“Shit, it’s gotten that bad for kids these days? Man, Earth’s turned into a real shithole. Unless you’re from one of the Enclaves.” Jerry said. Thoroughly distracted from the terrors of space at the talk of home and his excitement climbed further when Jerry brought up the Enclaves.
“What’s so special about the Enclaves, anyways?” Snorting, Jerry was eager to rid Roy of his ignorance.
“Imagine Earth being just one big fucking dessert. You know what a dessert is, right? Okay, good. Anyways, imagine it’s one big dessert. No food, no water, nothing but sand. But spread out over this big, planet wide dessert are oasis. These oasis have everything a starved, dehydrated human could want. Food, water, trees etc. That’s an Enclave. They have clean air, enough wealth to make every building out of glass and the dogs are better fed than you and I. They get full gene therapy treatments from the moment they’re a baby, turned into perfect little human beings for the noble families. They’re places that seem almost magical, if you try to not look too hard for the source of their power.”
Stunned, Roy remained silent as he the Arrowhead took them ever closer to their destination. He couldn’t help but wonder how much it cost to live in an Enclave, probably much more than the meager five-thousand credits he had considered a fortune minutes ago. The silence didn’t last long though as the Arrowhead turned and in the distance, a large steel structure appeared in the near distance.
“Alright Dregs, coming up is the support frigate ‘Maiden’. It’s a nimble little fucker so don’t be afraid to adjust mid jump if it curves. If one you manage to make it on the first round, I’ll throw a couple extra hundred credits myself. We got a bit of a bet going on between me and the others. You all have a few minutes to prepare, get ready!” Swallowing hard, Roy felt the returning chill creep down his spine as he stared beyond the frigate. The endless nothing, like those of his nightmares. Except no pairs of eyes blinked at him from the beyond, no figure promising companionship or ominous promises. Just, nothing. Nothing but space and the millions of twinkling stars spinning across the distant canvas.
But in his mind’s eye, he saw that luminescent sword again. A weapon that defied logic and demanded strength to even gaze upon it. A tool to fix the errors in his life. A promise, a guarantee if he’d just take the risk and resist hesitating. Still terrified, Roy refused to let the cold dread seize him. Slowly clenching his muscles, he did his best to loosen up for the jump.