In its grandeur, the universe hadn't limited itself with Terra in terms of inhabitable planets. The furthest currently in human hands were the 3 frontier star systems, the furthest of which was the New Horizons system, where my home planet lay. Beyond was the heavily contested Red Star system. The furthest of many Sols like systems that hosted a multitude of naturally habitable planets that we could access. Although not necessary to humanity, as population and resources weren't such a threatening factor to the race as old stories tell it to be, our greed knew no bounds. Humanity attempted to colonize these lands, but ended up failing to realize the obvious. Just like we tried at home, someone else tried in this one. An Alien species, much similar to our own, had expanded into an unknown number of systems, the Red Star system being its frontier. With our will to expand, war was inevitable.
12 years ago was the exact start date of this particular conflict, it initially started as a mild in-planet conflict on Octavia, a super-earth like planet in the Red Star system. The story goes that the first settlers had peacefully attempted to reach accords with the local population who had branched out from its mother race and cut ties with the lands. Now peacefully knowing our history as a race seems like the least the approach was, but regardless it led to a violent take over of the planet from the human population. Roberto used to say that the noise created was so loud that the neighboring communities worried and called back to their mother planet's to help. I'm sure the humans of the home system or military personnel understand the aliens better than myself, but my impression is that we brought this upon us.
'Perhaps, I'll be able to find out more than you ever told me Roberto'. I told myself that as I held onto the dog tag I had retrieved from him. I had been directed into a chamber along with 7 other kids from the outskirts. All of us were 16, which made sense as basically anyone over the age limit that actually wanted to had already entered the military. The chamber was part of what I imagine to be a spaceship, we'd be redirected to a slightly more inner planet where we'll join other new entrants of the military. At least in theory. Anyways, as I took my seat and strapped in I looked around at the faces that accompanied me on this adventure.
There were none I actually knew the name of, and barely any I had seen. A girl, pretty tall for her age, with red hair and green eyes caught my eyes, she was definitely unusual in her looks, the freckles in her cheeks matched her hair and gave color to her pale skin, was the only one that actually caught my eyes. If my memory serves me right, she came from the same general area Roberto was from. I thought she was affiliated to one of the orphan clans since that's who I usually saw her hang out with, but figures.
A loud rumbling brought me back to reality, we were taking off. It didn't actually take too long to reach space, it was my first time actually going there, and all I had to go off were Roberto's ramblings. Once up I could feel the weightlessness that came with the lack of gravity. A few of the kids with me even seemed surprised by this feeling, it was a bit weird after all, but the novelty died quickly. Overall I'd expected space travel to last longer, but it only took a few hours before we heard an announcement.
"Entering atmosphere, brace, brace"
We couldn't really tell small facts like speed or even have an impression of how far we were moving, we just had this one announcement to know our little space adventure was over. The ship descended, and the feeling is what I can only describe as a man trying to squish a plastic cup against a surface. Took a full hour for the ship to land, but finally we had arrived.
“In line and follow me, today will be a long day, it is in your best interest to not make it longer”
As soon as the door to our chamber opened, a lanky man entered, he was thinner than even the least fed of the outskirts, but something about his expression hinted that this definitely wasn’t because he didn’t eat enough. We ushered ourselves over to him not really wanting to already get on their bad side. For all of us, our experience with the government personnel boiled down to ‘piss them off equals getting shot with no second thought’, it was no surprise no one questioned a word. There was little chatter, and the only time the group of 7 spoke up, they were shut down by an ugly look from the tall skinny man.
We accessed a courtyard and for the first time I had a proper look at the ship that had brought us here. Ship would be an exaggeration, it barely surpassed the size of the small private jets we saw pass over us occasionally in the outskirts, but unlike those jets, this spaceship lacked windows except for a large windscreen at the very front. The courtyard we landed in was an open desert with very few buildings and a truck lined up next to the biggest one. Once we reached the truck the man spoke up once more.
“Ok listen up kids, this will be very simple. You will be going through a 6 months training camp where you will be made to understand all aspects of life here in the military. You’ll also be tested multiple times so that we can determine where it is best to place you. This truck will take you directly to the barracks. There you’ll live most of your life for these months. Go to the dorms, drop your stuff and head to HQ for check in. That’s what you have to remember, everything else will be indicated for you once you’re there. Now head in.”
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With these words he effectively shoved us into the bus and went back into the building. The driver's area was separated from where we sat so we were left to our own. With the exception of two kids that talked in low voices to each other at the back of the bus, the ride was mostly quiet. In the outskirts you didn’t really talk with strangers, you can say that the old ‘stranger danger’ trope was taken to a maximum. 20 minutes in, the bus stopped, opened its doors and with no further commands we descended from the bus. The windows were tinted on the inside as well, so we saw nothing of the trip, but as soon as the first people went out, they had to hold up their hands to cover their faces. We were now inside and the white lights that showed through were a stark contrast to the dim lights we were used to during the rest of the trip.
I do have to admit, the lack of information had started to feel annoying, yet I didn't let it bother me. Eventually we would get more information. For now we simply followed the armed men who led us to a large dormitory.
Dashed in many shades of green, the dormitory was filled with bunk beds, most of which were clearly occupied. Around 60 people were currently inside and based on the disordered nature of the others, many more occupied this area. Give or take I could estimate around 50 bunk beds, totalling 100 places, which made sense as a nice round number. Rows of lockers were on the sides and a clearly defined bathroom area was visible. It was easy to guess what was inside. Showers, probably toilets, the usual luxuries I had limited access to back in the outskirts, at least in this form.
A sudden grunt brought me back from my train of thoughts and I saw the guards that led us here next to a bald man. He looked out of place here as he seemed way older than most of us, but that might simply be the well-defined brown beard that perfectly matched the color of his eyes. He approached us and cleared his voice.
"Names Ralf, I can get to know those of you worth something in a bit, for now as the 'elder here' I'm given the annoying task of actually informing you of stuff. Mind you I'm only 21, don't you there treat me as an elder or your dead. Anyways, welcome to the barracks, here's where you'll spend most of your time off. You're the last batch so most of the beds are already taken, search what's left and don't complain. You have about 20 minutes, in 30 you should be outside and in front of Major Opal's office. He will check you in our luxury hotel. That's all, move."
His voice was rasp, it was clear he felt this was a waste of time, and I couldn't really blame him. He was probably the oldest present and the guards somewhat decided he was gonna be the voice of the group. I went on ahead and looked aimlessly for a bed. Unfortunately, all that was left were lower bunks, which were quite annoying. I've gotten way too used to living alone, this will be a significant change. There was a bed a bit more towards the edge than the other remaining ones, so I decided to head for that one, regardless if it was further from the bathroom. Luckily, I had anticipated everyone else so I could safely claim it. My soon to be bunk bed partner was also present.
“I sleep late, move a lot and go up and down the bed often. You're gonna have to be a clean person to stay here, I can't stand the bad smell!”
Everyone was my age, but for many it was hard not calling them kids for how they acted. The ramblin kid in front of me was a prime example, it looked like she was the owner of the bed above the one I considered taking. This explained a lot, a bed on the edge I would've expected to be the first to go. This character may be the reason there still is one free. I looked around deciding she would be more trouble than a central bed, but to my dismay they were all already occupied. Sighing I dropped my stuff and looked at the kid. She was pretty particular, short with darker skin, but had white hair and gray eyes. I had heard that some humans in specific planets had started to develop mutations, and this weird combination of color probably was one such case. Her expression looked very displeased, I couldn't quite put my finger on why, luckily the kid would answer for me.
“Hey! Stop ignoring me! I'm talking to you.”
I saw her pause, look around and then back to me.
“This is the last place available so it looks like I'll be stuck with you. My name is Vicky, who may you be?”
She had her arms crossed and a tone of indignation as she said those last few sentences. She really made me want to continue ignoring her. I looked for an excuse to slip out, and luckily the Red-Head from my ship was heading out with a few from my arrival group, likely to go to the Major's office. Taking my chance, while not being completely distant from my soon to be permanent bunk bed partner, I spoke up.
“Let's leave presentations for later, I don't think it's a good idea to make this major wait. I'll introduce myself later.”
While she looked outraged and likely wanted to retort, in the end she simply made a motion with her hand that indicated to me to go. I didn't hang around and rejoined the group heading out. We all walked together towards the office. There were a few rows of chairs in front of the office. Upon noticing our arrival, a man that stood at the entrance went inside. He came out shortly after and signaled to the first person to come in. I sat two seats to the right from the red-headed girl, in the last row, and I guessed that they went in the order we chose ourselves, because before long I was left alone in the room. Eventually, the girl came out and headed back without looking at me, and the man behind her signaled at me. It was my turn to go in.