Under Construction Skyscraper

Floor 73.   

  The shuttle came in almost silently and landed at the spaceport. The passengers were mostly young officers fresh out of the East-Asia branch of the High Tower Academy. Basic schooling was mandatory up through age eighteen as per global education laws. After graduation a student could join one of the many hundreds of academies that are dedicated to a specific trade or job. High Tower was for those who wished to join the colony fleets as military officers. It was the fashion among high class families to send their 2nd child to High Tower, but it was open to anyone. The five year curriculum lasted somewhat longer than most other academies which finished only 2 or 3 years. This year’s batch of High Tower graduates were all heading to one place: the Colony Fleet Infinitum.

Poor kids. So excited. So hopeful. If only they knew what space could really be like. “Timos…. Timos!” The voice yanked him from his thoughts. “Timos! How many this time?”

“Oh, uh.” He looked back through the scope. “Twenty, no, wait, twenty-two. Two were slow in getting off.”

His partner sighed as he entered the number into the keypad on his arm. “You have that look again. Don’t bother feeling sorry for them. It won’t change anything.”

I know, by the Void do I know. He had done this routine so many times before that he had lost count. He saw movement down by the shuttle and looked through the scope again. “Change it to forty-two. Latecomer. Must’ve been napping.” Poor boy. It would’ve been better if you hadn’t woken up.

The other man closed his keypad. “Alright, that’s the last High Tower shuttle for this dock. Let’s check in with the other groups and then get some sleep. We have a lot to do before the ships leave.”

Timos took one last look at the dock and at the young officers and shook his head. Poor kids. Then he laughed, causing his partner to give him a weird look. They aren’t more than five cycles younger than me, but I feel so much older. Space changes a man, whether he likes it or not.

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New Tokyo Spaceport

Dock 72

  Someone’s foot connected with his shin and he snapped his eyes open, grimacing with pain. A few feet away, he saw Redd doubled over laughing. Redd’s ability to make everything into a joke never ceased to amaze him. He was one of the two squad co-leaders, thickly built and only slightly taller than Kaiza. A well-defined but jovial face, always ready to laugh. His hair was a dark brown with a Geneta-dyed shock of crimson hair on the front right, hence his nickname. His eyes were light brown but had been genetically tweaked to have shiny red glitter scattered throughout the iris.

“Oh man, that never gets old. What happened to those famous reflexes of yours?”

Kaiza sighed. “I let my guard down among friends so that I could get some sleep.”

“Ah, well. You needed to get up anyway. We’re here.” Redd started walking towards the shuttle door.

Kaiza stood up and looked out the window. New Tokyo. Finally back home, but not for very long. Kaiza was the leader of his 23 man squad, and they were destined for the colony fleets, and it was very unlikely he would see his home for a long time. He stood up and stretched, trying to get the kinks out that happen when you attempt to fall asleep in a constrictive military shuttle. He started walking towards the door when he caught sight of himself in the nearby mirror. He had tried to avoid the Geneta-dye fad, but a wild night out partying with his squad when they graduated from High Tower had left him with dark gray geneta-dyed hair and his normally black eyes had been tweaked to have dark purple glitter swirling around in the iris. His squad had thought that making his hair a boring gray when bright colors were the trend was the funniest prank they could think of. One last look out the window. This skyline hasn't changed.

“Kaiza! Let’s go! You’re last off.” Redd pushed Jynma, the other squad co-leader, out of the shuttle door in front of him and they jogged together towards where the rest of the new officers were gathering. Kaiza grabbed his bag and walked out the shuttle door not far behind. Probably the last good nap I will get in a while. He stopped as he felt the hair stand on the back of his neck. He looked around. There! The glint of reflected light in a skyscraper at the edge of the spaceport. Then it was gone. It’s just a window catching the sun differently. Focus. He finished jogging over to Redd. The instructor was already talking.

“...one week until you get shipped up to the staging location for the Infinitum. Until then, you will have to attend multiple meetings to bring you up to date about all of the things that you are expected to know relating to this upcoming journey." Assorted groans came from the assembled officers. "yes, yes. I admit, it’s not the most interesting part of this, but it’s only a week! My assistants here will assign you your lodgings for this week.” He gestured out a couple of secretaries, waiting patiently behind him to pass out thick folders of documents. He look backed at the officers and saluted. “Good luck! See you at the Infinitum.”

  Lecture after lecture. Useless information about the history of the fleets. Statistics about how the gravity wells will help slingshot us towards the next planet in the system. Gravity wells... Dear god. Boring. Thought Kaiza. I Learned this in year one at Hightower. I could do these calculations in my sleep. Just let us go up already.

The new officers were all in a crowded lecture hall all listening with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Finally, the commanding officer from the first day walked up to the mic. “Congratulations on getting through the introductory week! After this meeting is over, you will all have 2 hours to gather your belongings and regroup with your squad at your assigned launch door. Please do NOT be late! Dismissed!”

‘Don’t be late’, he says. ‘The launch doors are easy to find’, he says. Kaiza sighed. I hope the colony fleet is more organized than this.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Kaiza!” Redd’s voice came from somewhere above. Kaiza looked up. Redd was waving from a platform two levels above him. Most of the squad was already there. Launch door 8 was burned into the wall above the door. He made a quick count.

“Just Jynma left.” He said as he walked towards the squad.

Redd laughed. “You know him. Fashionably exactly on time. I bet he will show up as the doors open.”

Sure enough, the buzzer for the final preparation warning sounded and Jynma materialized out of the crowd.

Kaiza looked around, “Is everyone checked and ready?” A chorus of agreement met him. “Then form up!"

Expertly, they slid into formation. Kaiza at the lead, Jynma behind him to his left and Redd behind him on the right. The rest of the squad formed into lines behind them. All along the platforms squad leaders were doing the same. It did not take long. High Tower had trained them well.

A voice came over the intercom. “Shuttle bays opening!” The whole area rumbled as the massive launch doors splitting down the middle. One after the other, loud booms echoed as the doors attached to the locking pillars. Kaiza walked forward and his squad followed suit, walking into the dimly-lit transport ship. He made sure his squad was locked in securely and then locked himself in. He allowed himself a brief smile. It was finally happening.

Jynma raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Been awhile since I seen that emotion in your face, squad leader."

Kaiza couldn’t help it. “I’m excited, Jyn. It’s finally starting. This is what we trained for.”

Redd laughed as he tried to reach over and slap Kaiza on the back, the locking mechanism on his seat preventing him from getting close enough to do anything but barely tap Kaiza's shoulder. “As good a reason as any!” A mischievous glint came into his eyes. He looked down the aisle at the rest of the squad. “Right, Jules?”

A girl a couple of rows back with dark blue hair and brown eyes blushed furiously and looked away. Redd smiled and whispered to Kaiza while chuckling, “The girls like it when you smile, Kai. Your face just becomes so handsome.” Kaiza could not avoid the embarrassment that he was sure his face was telegraphing, and to cover it he brought up his arm to the see timer on his wrist enhancement. 1:09. The final broadcast would be in. He counted down. 3...2...1. Bzzzt. The intercom clicked on.

“Tiger squad confirm green light for exit sequence?”

Kaiza clicked on his communicator. “This is Tiger squad leader. Confirming green light for exit sequence. We are locked in and ready to get to the Infinitum. Over.”

“Roger that, Tiger squad leader. Launch sequence is a go.” Nearby rumbles denoted that the other squads were ready as well. The ship shook. “Launch successful. Atmospheric exit in 3...2...1…”

The ship shook again and Kaiza lost his weight.

The pilot continued, “Welcome to space, ladies and gents. Window shields going down...now.” In an instant, parts of the craft became transparent. Gasps came from behind him.

“Kai, look.” He followed Redd’s finger and his eyes widened. The colony fleet loomed ahead. Infinitum. It was massive, bigger than he had imagined. The descriptions didn’t do it justice. The Colony Fleet Infinitum. 87 distinct larger ships along with hundreds of thousands of much smaller ships and fighters. The pinnacle of human ingenuity. He picked out the separate ships. The five largest, the Seed ships, which carried the two million colonists in stasis. The next largest ships were strictly military, the eleven Super-Carriers that were the backbone of the Infinitum’s military strength. Then the resource ships or "Harvester" ships, the lifeline of the fleet, absorbed stray space materials along the journey and converted them into energy. They could also “eat” parts of a planet’s atmosphere and surface to gather other varied resources. There were also the smaller cruisers but at this distance they couldn't be spotted. "Smaller" being a relative term, as they dwarfed the many private ships of the science companies and the Private Military Corporation's they hired as protection that had already been safely parked in pre-purchased hangars. This venture had the potential to be unbelievably profitable and the private corporations knew it. So profitable, in fact, that the PMCs didn’t even ask for payment to provide protection, which was unheard of. The chance to be the first to acquire new military technology was enough compensation.

The pilot’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Prepare for docking and artificial gravity in ten seconds.” The shuttle became translucent again and the guiding programs took over the approach into one of the light cruisers. Artificial gravity took hold and Kaiza regained his weight. The transport came to a standstill as the locking pillars secured the shuttle.

The pilot intercom crackled to life once more. “This is where you get off. Good luck up here.” The doors slid open with a hiss and the locks on the seats slid back into the material.

“Squad, Form up!” Kaiza took the lead and walked into the massive hangar and waited for the other squads to get into position around him to form their unit. ICS Clark was emblazoned in shiny gold lettering above the mile wide hangar entrance. The ICS Clark? Why are we…

Redd voiced what Kaiza was thinking. “The Clark? I'snt she a light cruiser? I thought we were going to be stationed on one of the under-manned super-carriers?”

Kaiza shrugged but didn’t reply. I guess the fleet isn’t completely organized yet.

The sound of boots clicking on metal pulled him from his thoughts. A middle-aged, blond haired man with knee high boots and a captain's uniform walked to the far right of the formation, questioning each squad leader quickly and then moving down the line. Kaiza's turn was next. He saluted the Captain, who returned the gesture and then started talking while looking at his clipboard.

“Tiger Squad Leader?”

“Affirmative.”

“Good, here is your squads quarters.” One of the Captains aides handed Kaiza a smaller clipboard with a map on it and barracks 7 circled in red. “Don’t get too comfortable, you won’t be there longer than three days. Feel free to have your squad relax, your official duties will not start until we get to the other side of Jupiter. Any questions Lieutenant?”

“Just one sir. Why are we being stationed on this ship and not one of the super-carriers? We were told that they were undermanned and in need of officers?”

The captain smirked. “Oh don't you worry lieutenant, you won’t be here long and you definitely will not be a run-of-the-mill officer on a boring super-carrier.”

Boring? Did he just refer to a super-carrier as boring?

Redd spoke up from behind him. “Excuse me sir, but that does not give us much to go on. Could you tell us what you mean, or where we will actually be stationed?”

“I'm afraid not son, classified info and all that.”

Redd saluted. “Thank you for your help sir!” The sarcasm was easily detectable. The captain laughed and then continued down the line to the other squads.

Redd turned to Kaiza, eyes full of questions.

“I'm sure we will be informed when we need to be. For now, we are going to the barracks. And you heard the man, everyone can enjoy themselves for the next three days.”

Redd whooped, his questions forgotten as he planned out the amusements to come.

Jynma grimaced and muttered under his breath, “Just gotta keep the bastard away from the alcohol."

Kaiza almost cracked a smile. Now that would be a problem.