Rumbling and rumbling, the interior of the dropship filled with the noise of its engines, like that of a roaring animal, but multiplied tenfold and unceasing, as if a predator was on the hunt. As large and sophisticated this piece of hardware seemed, it was a beast in terms of how much noise it made.
Not even several inches of combined core material and alloyed steel could buffer down the roar of the ship’s ionic pulse engines.
From her seat, Amanda could hear all four of its engines all at once, a cacophony of noise so loud that she almost couldn’t hear herself breathe.
Inhaling sharply, she tightened the strap of her seat’s buckles and the metal framed harness secured around her. She was living what explorers went through. This was nothing like the 3D simulations, she thought.
Those class VR videos lacked sound or sensation, and sure, she had been well adapted to understand where to sit and buckle in. But to take in all the new sensations at once?
It’s a wonder how her heart had not leaped out of her chest yet. It pumped, palpated, so much so that she could feel it almost rise up in her throat. Choking it down, she gripped a nearby cold steel bar, gritting through as time passed.
Out of the 20 students in this ship, she was one of them who was partaking in this fear inducing class. It was the first day of practical’s, and already, they were forced to rush into transports at the drop of a hat, face the intense G’s of the ship taking off on a dime, and were now haunted by the sounds of this dull gray metal room.
It felt like a cage with how it was colored and how tightly bound they were to their seats, and while everyone knew that this wasn’t a prison, they all, especially the first years, wondered what the heck they were in for.
“LISTEN UP, STUDENTS! IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU’RE ENJOYING THE RIDE, BUT LET’S GET THIS STARTED!”
Shouting happily over the rumbling sounds, a man at the front of the dropship’s passenger compartment walked out to the space between all the students. He was of a large and strong build, and a red scabbing scar ran along his muscular right arm.
As he shouted, attending personnel in flight suits came around and handed out triangular devices to everyone. Amanda palmed the triangular piece of metal that was the size of her thumb and knew what to do.
From the recent classes, this was the most familiar device they learned to use. Pressing it to her ear, it affixed itself to Amanda’s skin. It wasn’t intrusive and felt as if it wasn’t even touching her skin, it was as if it were hovering just a few microns from her skin. Though, she knew it was there since her vision filled with the familiar sight of the heads-up display, or HUD for short.
The device was a multi-purpose communications earpiece, a sophisticated piece of tech all neatly packed into a compact shape that it seemed more like an accessory.
But it could do more than look pretty. It could beam a digital display to a person’s visual cortex through a wireless neural link, in doing so, it gave the wearer the capability of not only comms but more utilities.
A full tactical display and computer could be utilized for in field calculation and strategization. Amanda could only guess at how much one of these cost and shuddered at the idea of having to pay for damaging it.
To Amanda’s relief, her “bad luck” with technology seemed to be turning for the better.
“TESTING! TESTING! IS THIS THING ON!”
Suddenly, the sound of static filled her ears and every students’ eyes converged on the large man at the front of the passenger compartment.
“GOOD! YOU AT LEAST KNOW HOW TO USE THEM! AND WE DON’T HAVE ANY WHINERS ONBOARD! IF WE DID, THEN WE’D HAVE TO THROW YOU OFF MID FLIGHT!” The man laughed, but no student dared to laugh along. To them, his jovial words didn’t sound like a joke.
“NOW!” The man continued loudly. “LOOK TO YOUR HUD, I’LL EXPLAIN THE SITUATION.”
Operating their devices, the eye tracking software helped them pull up the relevant data.
“WELCOME TO YOU’RE FIRST DAY OF THE PRACTICAL TRAINING CLASS. AS YOU ALL KNOW, THIS CLASS IS ONLY DONE ONCE A MONTH. THE REASON FOR THAT IS SO YOU RUNTS DON’T GET TOO SCARED. BWAHAHAHA.”
The man’s countenance then turned stern, sterner than anyone here thought it could go from the earlier wide smile he had on. Not a hint of the man’s past self was left on his face.
“IN ALL REALITY, THIS CLASS IS HARD! SO YOUR IN FOR A SCARE! PROFESSOR CYNO MAY HAVE EASED YOU INTO IT, BUT I WON’T! I’LL GIVE IT TO YOU STRAIGHT.”
Their HUDs pulled up a map on its own, showing the intended terrain ahead. The view zoomed out and Amanda, along with many other first years, gawked at how large the map was.
The city they were departing from looked more like a singular dot on their map. It was only one of several hubs of civilization in the Terracolony, a shocking realization they all had to suddenly come to grips with.
Cyno’s book had recounted the sheer massive size of the Terracolony, and while the words he used had helped to convey the initial intent of scale, seeing it for real made Amanda’s legs go weak. If she wasn’t sitting already, she would have fallen to the ground.
If she put what she saw into words, the past month she had been spending in Andromeda and familiarizing herself with the area, had only made up less than 1% of the 1% of the total space in the entire Terracolony.
“Heh!” The scarred man chuckled at their expense.
“SEEMS LIKE YOU ALL REALIZED! YOU’RE ALL VERY SMALL IN COMPARISON TO THE COLONY AND IN YOUR PART IN TODAY’S EVENTS. HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSAND OF STUDENTS ARE TAKING PART AS WE SPEAK! THE ENTIRE TERRACOLONY IS IN FACT! TO SUMMARIZE, YOU AND THE BUNCH THAT WAITED THIS MORNING WERE JUST THE NORTHERN SECTOR! WE GOT THREE MORE SECTORS OF YOU RUNTS! SO IF YOU DROP OUT NOW! WE HAVE PLENTY MORE TO REPLACE YOU!”
The scarred man let the students’ minds settle on that, but not for long. He manipulated his holo wrist device, suddenly pulling up a relevant map of their location and intended objectives.
“TIME IS SHORT, SO I WON’T BE TAKING ANY QUESTIONS. SO SHUT UP! RIGHT NOW, THE CDU AND CAU TRAINING DIVISIONS ARE HAVING A LITTLE FUN TODAY! THEIR PLAYING A WARGAME WITH THEIR SENIORS, AND YOU’RE GOING TO HELP THEM WIN!”
The students HUD zoomed in and they saw the indicator of their dropship on approach on a southeast vector. Just ahead were two points of interest.
“NOW! YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN OPTION! YOU CAN EITHER STAY HERE AND WAIT LIKE A PANSY UNTIL WE GET TO OUR DESTINATION FOR THE NEXT PART OF THE CLASS, OR! YOU CAN DROP IN! IF YOU DO, YOU HAVE 3 OBJECTIVES. ONE! REACH POINT BRAVO AFTER DROPPING IN AT POINT ALPHA! TWO! ASSIST THE CDU AND CAU TRAINEES! THIRD! ..SURVIVE!”
“Survive?” Squeaked a student.
“YOU HEARD ME! BUT DON’T WORRY, THIS IS A TRAINING EXERCISE. YOU’LL BE FIGHTING CONJURED CONSTRUCTS MADE BY THE SENIOR CDU AND CAU EXPLORERS. THEY’LL “GO EASY” ON YOU, JUST DON’T STUPIDLY JUMP INTO SOME RECKLESS FRIENDLY FIRE!”
All the students gulped, some seemed as if they already wanted to go home and Amanda saw the fear in their eyes, they were even in her own, even Stella’s, and Richard’s.
Only Shisuki and Ikki were unfazed, showing a hint of confidence, perhaps from their history of harsh training in their childhoods.
“ALRIGHT! BOYS AND GIRLS, WE GOT ABOUT 30 MINUTES UNTIL IT'S TIME TO START, SO “GO AHEAD” AND GET COMFY. AND! ONE LAST REMINDER, THIS INITIAL SECTION OF THE PRACTICAL CLASS IS OPTIONAL, BUT ALL OF YOU ARE BEING EVALUATED ON YOUR PERFORMANCE AS WE SPEAK, SO THINK HARD ON YOUR CHOICES IN THIS CLASS. PASSING OR FAILING IS NOT A MATTER OF WINNING OR LOSING, IT IS MUCH MORE ABOUT YOU AND THE PEOPLE BESIDE YOU. THINK ON THAT!”
With his last warning and all that he had to explain completed, the scarred man and his accompanying assistants moved to the front of the ship.
As soon as they left, Amanda pulled up a team communications line between her friends.
“Ikki? Stella? You there?”
A green blip in the corner of her HUD affirmed they could hear her and she took a breath. Then, she screamed.
“This is insane! Is this what they were preparing us for, for the last month?”
“It seems so.” Shisuki said calmly. “Though, I understand your exasperation. I too am a bit overwhelmed.”
“Really? You don’t seem like it. How are you not more surprised by this?” Asked Stella. “Have you done this in the Eastern Bloc before?’
“Somewhat, but never on such a large scale. Andromeda is truly astonishing. Little Brother? Have you done this during your time here? I’ve heard you played a part in last year’s Eastern Bloc Crisis, so you must have done some training to prepare for such an important operation.”
“Yeah, but only once.” Ikki nodded timidly to Shisuki. “During the subjugation and clean up operation last year in the Eastern Bloc, Itsuki and his team took me along. Going by what my HUD is saying about our intended location of drop, we’ll be dropping at a lower altitude this time.”
“And why exactly is that catching your attention?” Amanda asked.
“It’s because, and I’m astonished to even guess, I believe Ikki has done an orbital drop before?” Richard postured and he seemed to be correct. Ikki flashed him a thumbs up and further relayed what he knew.
“It seems like today’s class is to teach about the basic strategy of explorer combat. I don’t have the full picture yet, but we’ve been given the chance to enter the field in a simulated battle. Who or what we’ll fight is a mystery to me.”
“Great!” Amanda sarcastically jibbed. “This class is already completely out of left field and now they want to throw us a curveball? What do they expect from us now? To hit a home run?”
“Are you having second thoughts Amanda?” Stella asked cheekily.
It was refreshing to hear such a giddy tone in this situation, and Amanda laughed derisively at how Stella could keep such an upbeat mood.
“Ha! If you think this is going to scare me away, then think again. I have to deal with the weirdo as a boss, so this should be a breeze.”
“Oh ho ho ho.” Shisuki found her bravado quite fascinating. “It seems like you’re already ready to jump, do you even know how you’re going to land?”
“Hmmm? Oh..now that I think about it, how are we supposed to land?”
Amanda had seen it done on the video recorded 3D simulations, and while she thought landing with her own two feet seemed possible if she enhanced her body with core energy, her instinctual fear of it not working out as well as she expected made a bit of uncertainty creeped into her voice.
“Going from my experience in the past.” Ikki explained. “Explorers will either land with an impact by focusing core energy into their legs, or, they use the parachutes stored on the dropship, so that’s an option. But I’m more interested in our seniors, they seem..odd? ”
He looked around and wondered why the few upperclassmen they were with were carrying so much equipment. Some had a backpack sat on the ground, or rucksacks filled with what looked like survival gear. Amanda why as well, and asked the upperclassman to her left.
Tapping the man’s shoulder and motioning to her earpiece, she got the rough looking individual’s attention and he understood what she wanted him to do. Adjusting his own comms device, his voice came over their line.
“What do you want, first year! This better be important!”
“Woah! Rude much?”
“Hmm?” The upperclassman trained his eye on Amanda. He blinked a few times and then sighed. “Oh, you’re that first year, Amanda? Right?”
“Hmph! Yes, it’s me. Nice to see you again, Chisuke.”
By how Amanda was speaking harshly, everyone else got the feeling that this Chisuke person was a bit abrasive and seemed to look down on his younger peers. His wild hair and bestial look in his eyes told a story of a man who thirsted for combat.
“So? What do you want?” Chisuke asked, looking as if she and the others were a bother.
“I wanted to know why you’re carrying so much equipment with you, did we miss a memo or something?”
“Nope.”
A silence hung for a few moments and Shisuki spoke up, keeping her patience in check.
“Would you care to explain “why” you have so much equipment with you? That rucksack seems awfully cumbersome and difficult to move with. Why of all things would you bring that all along?”
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Chisuke frowned and audibly sneered at Shisuki. He found her tone and mannerisms too formal, like the grown ups from his clan in the Eastern Bloc. He hated it.
“What do I look like to you? A teacher? GO figure it out on your own and stop wasting my time, you should be planning what to do rather than worrying about another person’s business.”
Without warning, Chisuke cut his comms connection off and went back to conversing with his other neighbor, a fellow upperclassman.
“Well, He was nice.” Richard joked, though it didn’t stick.
“Jeez, how uncouth?” Stella complained. “Where does he get the nerve to speak to us like that!”
“I..hmmm? begrudgingly agre.” Shisuki said, astonished by her own words. It actually startled not only her, but everyone else that Shisuki of all people agreed on something for once with Stella.
“Heh.” Ikki chuckled. He was glad that there was some progress in those two getting along.
Perhaps they are alike in some manner.
“I think our upperclassman is right.” Ikki said. “I wanted to ask this, but? Are you all planning to jump? It is optional.”
Everyone could hear each other’s hesitation over comms, the silence was their answer and it seemed that the other first years had no inkling of participating. Only the upperclassman seemed unfazed and were gesturing as if coming up with a plan or strategy of attack.
Ikki sighed and recalled Itsuki’s info on the Star Royale. If he was to obtain his explorer license to show that he could become an explorer, then he needed to get onto the Star Royale’s team roster for Andromeda.
The Practical training class has an opportunity to get on the team, but, going by how we’re being evaluated as we speak, that means I have to make sure to be graded well. I need to show my worth, my power, my.. meager strength.
“I’m doing it.” Ikki declared. “Does anyone else want to come with me?”
“You can count me in!” Stella cheered.
“As will I.” Shisuki added. “I can’t let my little brother jump into danger without me, now can I?”
“If you’re going Shisuki, then so will I!” Richard exclaimed, clenching his hands. “I came to Andromeda to be an explorer and to learn from the best, so if this is a part of the training to become the best that I can, then I’m jumping in.”
But? Can I really do this? He thought, his hand clenching tighter. No, I want to try, at the very least, and use what I’ve been given for others. I can do more as an explorer than I could if I stayed a civilian.
Feeling the candid mood from her friends, Amanda found herself getting swept in. This was an unbelievable day, and it was still only the morning.
“You all are crazy, BUT! I can handle a bit of crazy at times. Let’s get through this together and pass this with flying colors.”
The mood becoming lighthearted, they banter around as their time passed. Using what they learned, they divided up responsibilities and roles for the coming fight. Among their group, they had 3 mystics, who were Richard, Stella, and Amanda. They all had powers that had a wide range of uses, a commonality among all Mystics.
Stella’s fire and Amanda’s ice made for great projectiles, so they decided to be behind the front liners like Ikki and Shisuki, who were corebinders.
They were the class of explorers which had the most physically adept bodies. So they were, so to say, the tanks of the party. Even though their role as a tank evoked the use of non-aggressive tactics, that was far from the truth.
Corebinders not only defended their allies, but also charged the frontline to break the enemy formation and open opportunities for the Mystics to let loose their destructive powers.
Unfortunately, Richard had to be handled differently and had a somewhat strange situation with how he’d fit into the group. He didn’t have much use for his core energy yet. He explained how he had only unlocked his powers recently and didn’t go through any formal training or had much time to experiment with his powers.
At best, he was an amateur still trying to figure out what exactly his powers did. Unlike Stella, who had been training all her life, and Amanda, who learned how to use her powers for the sake of self-sufficiency and independence, Richard in comparison came from a prestigious family of ordinary people.
While their blood had been descended from a well-known hero of the Starfall Calamity War, the power of an explorer is not always determined by genetics. This baffled many scientists on how the powers of explorers and core energy were unlocked in individuals.
Richard scratched his head, embarrassed, and even though everyone couldn’t see his face, they could imagine the wry smile he probably had on. A somewhat rare sight since he usually kept a logical calm in his bearing.
“Sorry for being the weakest link. I hope I don’t get in your way.”
“Not to worry.” Ikki assured him. “I’m sure you’ll surpass me once you get a hang of controlling your powers.”
“I.. really? T-Thanks, I hope I can as well.” It warmed Richard’s heart to be acknowledged by someone as strong as Ikki, who bested Stella, an A rank Explorer. Ikki was truly a good guy, and he was humble. Even though Richard knew he was incredible in his own right, Ikki still found inspiration in others.
Perhaps that is why Stella found Ikki attractive, and he could see her smiling for his sake.
“But.” Richard upturned, not forgetting to repay the compliment.
“You’re no amateur yourself Ikki. I’ve heard about you, it wasn’t in the news, but I followed the Eastern Bloc’s Crisis on hidden online forums. There were some amazing videos of you fighting in the Eastern Bloc. I recorded them all in time before they were censored for some reason.”
“Oh? Why did you record them?”
“Heh, I need a reference to understand what I’m getting into. So I searched online for what I could learn before enrolling.”
“Hmph!” Shisuki harrumphed in pride, as if she were proud of her own child. “That’s my little brother, I’m sure he’ll pass this class with no issue at all.”
“Of course he will.” Stella chirped her agreement with Shisuki. “He beat me! And! He’s probably the best swordsman out of all of us!”
“Oh, I’m surprised. Too think we would agree on something a second time, and on the same day, what a turn of events.”
“Yeah! But that just goes to show just how great Ikki is! Right?”
“Indeed, It seems we’ve agreed a third time, and so soon.”
Both Shisuki and Stella seemed as if they could go on and on about Ikki, and Amanda had no doubt about that. Stopping the two or else they’d go on for forever, she took charge.
“As much as I like having you two actually getting along, let’s refocus. If Me and Stella are going to be in the back, and Ikki and Shisuki are in the front, then let’s put Richard in the space between us.”
“Why?” Stella asked. “He is still a capable sword fighter, let’s put him in the front.”
“That is true.” Ikki replied reluctantly. “But putting everyone available up front would be a bad move in a combat situation, having someone in a role that provides overwatch would be better.”
“That would be prudent of us.” Shisuki added. “Brute force might not work in the situation ahead, we’re also being evaluated, and while I do not know what they are looking for, we must be smart about our actions.”
Shisuki’s words seemed to take the fire out of Stella, who huffed in annoyance and calmed down. This was training, and already, they had to think about such complex topics in their first year and first month at the academy.
When Stella’s father told her in person about how hard the curriculum at Andromeda was, she had not believed him. She knew he was trying to dismay her from facing any real harm due to his doting nature, but now? She realized that he was more than right.
But there was no time to cry over spilled milk. Even though her initial evaluations of the difficulty of the curriculum were wrong, that didn’t matter right now. Stella had found a challenge, a trial to push herself against to become stronger for the sake of her people’s protection.
No matter what, she wouldn’t give up and she wouldn’t let Ikki face this alone.
“ALRIGHT BOYS AND GIRLS.” Returning from the front of the dropship, the scarred man bellowed, startling everyone. Some jumped in their seats while others glared at the man in anticipation.
“WE’RE ABOUT TO ENTER THE DROP ZONE, THE SITUATIONS HOT! SO IT’S GOING TO GET LOUD AND-”
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
Just as the man stepped from the door, the whole dropship shook. Meek cries of terror spilled from the younger students who looked only to be 6 or 8 years old. Amanda’s heart went out to them.
The once overwhelming rumbles of the ship's engines were replaced by the dull and metallic thudding of explosions.
Beyond the confines of these gray metal walls, a battle was being waged, a battle explorers would have to eventually face in the future. Another round of thudding explosions rocked the dropship, yet, as bad as the shaking got, the ship held course.
“GOOD TIMING!” Heartily shouted the scarred man.
He grinned and punched the red button on the side of the dropship’s bay controls. The space in front of the passengers on either side of the dropship’s aligning walls opened, and the interior became illuminated with the light from the outside.
Some dared to look over and down through the opened bomb bay doors from their seats, and many widened their eyes as if they were forced open by an unseen hand.
Miles below, on green, blue, and gray colored lands, the faint glimmers of flashing lights filled their eyes. The land was fertile, but cratered in areas. Battle worn and torn almost to sunder. There were the sights of burning forests and leveled plains turned to a gray ash color. It was like seeing a paradise and HELL all at once, only this was real, and frightfully staring them in the face.
Amanda gulped, and the comms network on her earpiece automatically changed over to the local frequency. A jangling jumble of voices raged and shouted over each other.
[THIS IS 1ST GROUP, ADVANCING!]
[BARRAGE INCOMING! TAKE COVER!]
[2ND GROUP IN NEED OF SUPPORT! WE NEED, AHHHHH!]
[GO GO GO, PUSH THE LINE! PUSH THE-]
[FIGHT! FIGHT FOR VICTORY!]
[MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC!]
[ENEMIES ALL AROUND! WE’RE SURROUNDED!]
Was this really Practical Training? Amanda, and many other first years asked themselves that. In their first month, they were subjected to hard and transparent education about the grueling work of explorers.
There was nothing to butter it up or dress it neatly like how the news or local papers made it seem. They were given the cold hard facts in this school, and now! They were given it up front and in person.
A light in their earpieces’ displayed HUDs winked green and the light in the passenger room changed to the same.. They were ready to drop.
Their harnesses released and Amanda thought she heard herself scream as it did, or was it all in her head, or was it the other first years across from her? Either way, everyone was terrified.
Except, not the upperclassmen. Without hesitation, a little under half of the 20 passengers sat up and moved to the opened bomb bay doors.
The first out was Chisuke, a shit eating grin plastered on his face as he fell headlong to earth as if he were spiting the laws of gravity. Following him, other upperclassmen jumped, their weapons ready and determination seething in their wild expressions.
The scarred man nodded in approval as they jumped and then saw the fear in the quivering first years. He laughed internally and then bellowed sternly, coming down on them like a hammer on an anvil.
“YOU ALL GOT A 10 MINUTE WINDOW TO JUMP! MAKE UP YOUR MIND! IF YOU STAY HERE, YOU’LL HAVE PEACE AND SAFETY! BUT! YOU’LL NEVER HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GRADUATE IF YOU SIT THERE AND DO NOTHING! NOW! THE OTHER OPTION!”
He paused and rounded on a young 10 year old who was trembling and gripping his core assault rifle as if his life depended on it. By his camo attire, he was a trainee grunt class explorer who enrolled in the academy and not the CDU or CAU.
“I SEE WE GOT A COUPLE YOUNG ONES HERE! TELL ME KID! WHY ARE YOU HERE!”
The boy winced and curled up, his head down but his lips opening.
“I-I.. came to..”
“SPEAK UP!” The man yelled and the trembling child bit his lip.
The young kid turned his head further down for a second, a perplexed emotion in his eyes. The scarred man scoffed, but stopped himself, rounding on the child again. This time, he made deep eye contact as the child raised his head, tears in his eyes.
“I SAY AGAIN! WHY! ARE! YOU! HERE!”
From their seats, Amanda and the rest watched as the child widened his eyes and saw as a burning light suddenly appeared within those brown pearls of his. He bared his teeth, gritting them as if he were angry at the world and glared the scarred man down.
“I CAME TO FIGHT!” He screamed and the man raucously laughed.
“THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! GO!”
“YES! SIR!”
The child’s legs stopped their weak trembling and he hopped off his seat. Amanda wanted to shout for him to stop, he was too young and looked too frail to face this struggle, she didn’t want him to get hurt. Yet, only air came from her mouth as the words died on the tip of her lips.
The child was gone before she knew it, jumping down to a place she now had reservations of going, and she was the older one, the more experienced in life.
Can I do it? Can I really get through this training?
Amanda looked to her friends and saw the same hesitation in their eyes. They had just said they would, but now, now that their previous gusto was gone.
Ikki’s hand wouldn’t stop trembling, a surprising sight for Stella since he had been so steadfast earlier. Though, the sight of the long drop, the sounds, and adrenaline inducing fear, Stella couldn’t help but feel the same. Her teeth chattered as if she was suffering from a deathly chill.
Shisuki was not far behind, her lip quivered and her emerald eyes hazed with terror.
“I see Teacher, this is why.” She mumbled. “This is why you taught me so harshly!”
Richard overheard her and recalled that night Itsuki shared stories about his grandfather.
Your old man was always the first to jump, first to take the hits, and the first to go down. His comrades told me he was a man of action, no words and no platitudes. He only took action before anyone else could.
“Damnit!” Richard cursed. “Damnit!” He screamed again as he got up, edging his feet to the open bay doors. Chilling winds hit him in the face and he narrowed his eyes as he got through it.
Inch by inch, he got closer and closer, until he was staring straight down to the earth below. It was a long and dangerous drop down. He could smell the chaos of battle in the air and hear the explosions of ongoing battles.
A hand gripped his own on his left and he saw that Amanda was beside him.
“Together!” She said. “We do this as a team! Right!” She glanced back, giving Ikki, Stella and Shisuki a look. They turned to each other. Ikki smiled wryly, Stella pursed her lips, and Shisuki smiled daintily.
“Of course.” They said, joining Amanda and Richard.
“ONE MINUTE LEFT! JUMP OR SIT DOWN! LAST CHANCE!”
The scarred man warned and a glint of interest twinkled in his deep brown eyes. Such comradery, such youth from these 5 young students, it almost brought a tear to his battle hardened heart.
The seconds counted down, Amanda and her group saw as only 55 seconds remained in their HUDs. They took a breath, and Amanda shouted.
“On my mark!”
“Three!” The explosions intensified, the dropship rocked.
“Two!” They held fast, coming to grips with the reality of their trials ahead.
“One!” This was it, they would jump and then they’d fight! Fight with everything they had!
“Now!”
At her signal, Amanda leapt and down she went. Her eyes reflexively shut tight and everything going dark for a second. The wind hit her face and her eyelids were forced open. She craned her neck to look behind her and to her dismay, the bomb bay doors of the dropship shut tightly as she blinked in amazement, just like in the video simulations.
Though, it wasn’t all bad. She could see her four friends falling with her. Stella red hair and braids flared in the whipped-up air. Shisuki’s cool and steady expression helped to cool her own head, and Richard’s and Ikki’s familiar short black hair fluttered, they’re faces showing similar reactions to her own.
They were together, they’d get through this, and become explorers. They’d find what they all wanted, they’d explore the star depths, and explore how far they could go.
[ODSC-M10]
ORBITAL DROP SHIP CARRIER
Description: With a Explorer Capacity of 20, the dropship is also able to crew a total of 10 additional people for its normal operations. This dropship itself has both a Bomb bay door for bombardment with ordinance, but a ramp for cargo transportation. It can carry people, weapons, and explorers. Some can even be retrofitted with weapons in times of scare firepower. Dimension are based on the Old American Osprey.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/QCj09Pj0/image.png]